"In
about an hour we will arrive at the first hut", Robert says cheerfully. He
has done several bushcraft courses, in which you learn to survive in nature.
Now he has been walking with Laura and Astrid for a few hours through the snowy
mountains. "It's beautiful here," Laura says happily, and right after
that she slips on a rock. "Ouch", she shouts loudly, "my ankle!
Robert runs to her and cools her sprained ankle with the snow. Laura is
devastated; she was even wearing her new mountain shoes.
While they are looking at Laura's ankle on
a rock in the middle of the snow, the weather changes. Within minutes the sky
turns pitch black and a thunderstorm erupts. Through the noise of the storm,
Astrid shouts: "It's absurd, you can't even see twenty metres any more
because of the rain. "The hut is only five hundred metres away. Behind
that ridge", Robert shouts back. But in the fifteen minutes that they sit
still, he feels himself cooling down. Laura confirms what he thinks. "The
pain isn't too bad, but I'm starting to get cold."
Robert's thoughts go full speed ahead: We
have to get to a shelter within half an hour or we will get hypothermia. But
Laura can't walk anymore, we don't know exactly where the shelter is, we can't
see anything because of the dark and the extreme weather and we are cold. Now
what? Then suddenly he shouts: "We'll pitch the tent here". All these
small problems that can normally be managed now create a potentially
life-threatening situation and splitting up is out of the question!
He takes the pans out of his rucksack and asks
Astrid and Laura to dig a hole with them. Together they pitch the tent as best
they can and Robert pushes the ladies inside. "Take off all your
clothes," he commands, "because they are wet. Light the gas burner as
a stove and eat and drink warm things." Robert himself is still standing
outside when lightning strikes nearby. Pink. Purple. Beautiful colours. It’s an
explosion at less than fifty metres away. Only around eleven o'clock in the
evening does the storm subside. "We'll make it", mumbles Robert,
although all the sensations make it impossible to sleep. The three of them chat
until it gets light and together they watch the sun rise. "This is really
the most beautiful sunrise ever", Robert says with relief.