The Ski Trip Whiteout
A free B1-level English story for language learners, readable online in English, with an option to listen via the free Storyteller app.
Sudden fog separates Hazel from her friend on a ski slope, and she has to stay calm and follow the trail markers down alone.
Hazel is on a school ski trip, her first time attempting a run longer than the beginner slopes. She and her friend Orla start down together, laughing about how blue the sky looks above the mountain.
Halfway down, thick cloud rolls in suddenly, swallowing the trail markers ahead of them. Orla, always the faster skier, disappears into the white ahead before Hazel can call out to her. Within seconds, Hazel can barely see more than a few meters in any direction.
She stops completely, breathing hard. She remembers what the trip leader said during yesterday's safety talk. If visibility drops suddenly, he said, stay where you are. Look for the orange trail poles instead of guessing at the slope's edge.
Hazel spots a pole a short distance to her left, half-hidden in the mist. She skis carefully toward it. From there, she can just make out another pole further down, and then another. She moves slowly from marker to marker, checking each one before continuing. Every part of her wants to hurry.
After what feels like a very long ten minutes, a figure appears through the fog. He wears a red jacket. He is a ski patroller named Anton, sweeping the run during the sudden weather change. "You're doing exactly the right thing," he tells her, clearly relieved to find her calm.
He skis alongside her the rest of the way down, chatting easily to keep her calm. They reach the lodge at the bottom, where the fog is thinner. The world reappears in full color again.
Orla is waiting anxiously by the entrance. She had reached the bottom minutes earlier and realized only then that Hazel wasn't behind her. The two friends hug, both talking at once, before Hazel finally gets a full sentence out. "I followed the poles," she says. "Just like they told us to."
