The snow was getting tracked out. They were venturing farther and farther from the piste.

At the middle of the highest lift, three ski tracks left the marked run and curved away across the untouched snow.

They were beautiful tracks. Long, smooth, swooping turns, side by side.

“Somebody’s been there,” said Wind. “So it’s fine.”

“We don’t know who,” said Sophie.

“We follow tracks all the time.”

“At ski school. We follow Coach’s tracks.”

But he was already going.

Sophie didn’t follow.

She stayed close to the marked run until the white swallowed him up. Then she turned and skied down the marked run, a bit annoyed. Wind always went a little too far. Always.

And seriously. “Know your limits. And go beyond them”?

Boys.