Both of them had a special arrangement with their schools. Every year, they spent three extra weeks in the mountains, going to ski school instead.

Ski school was strict.

They were on the mountain earlier than everyone else, before the lifts opened to anybody but them. They skied fast. They skied gates, and bumps, and ice. They skied through the trees and off the cliffs, one behind the other, right behind their coach.

“Follow my tracks,” the coach said. “Don’t get lost. Know your limits. And go beyond them.”

And they did.