THE MOMENT BEFORE

I felt the shift before I saw it. One second, those clouds looked harmless enough, the next they turned on me like a moody teenager. Up near the Basin T Bar, the air thickened and the sky gave up, collapsing into a wall of white. I told myself I could still make it back to the patrol at the T station, which was bold considering I could barely see my own skis.

Then the blizzard hit properly. The world collapsed into white and I froze on the spot like a politician ambushed by a hot mic, guilty of absolutely everything and nothing at once. My goggles iced over, my breath turned shallow, and I stood there wondering which direction counted as not dying.

Panic crept in. I could not see up or down, left or right, or any version of a good decision. I tried to tell myself to move, but my legs had other ideas. Mostly, those ideas involved staying exactly where I could freeze to death with dignity.

And then, slicing through the storm, came a blur of commotion. A gang of boarders whooshed past like they were late for lunch. I considered them supernatural. But they left a faint disturbance in the snow, like a whisper of direction, and desperation makes you brave or stupid. I was both.

I pushed off and chased their ghosts, wobbling, guessing, bargaining with every snow god available. The wind slapped me around, the mountain growled, and my internal monologue was just one long apology to my future self. Somehow though, their line held and my legs cooperated long enough to keep me upright.

Eagles Nest finally appeared through the white, looking like salvation in architectural form. I skidded in on numb legs, heart thumping as if it might leap from my chest. Inside, thawing out and pretending I hadn’t nearly cried into my balaclava, I watched the blizzard rage outside with the smug relief of someone who survived through equal parts luck and blind panic.

Check out the close-up!

Oil on stretched canvas / 60cm x 60cm / framed in Tasmanian Oak and ready to hang.

* This painting is still drying and will not ship until late February 2026