Unexplored | Teen Ink

Unexplored

December 9, 2021
By Anonymous

Zach had never been much of a risk taker while snowboarding, but after thinking and talking about his idea with his friend Kyle. They decided to try and go off on their own and try to find their own trail on a mountain. Kyle had heard about a helicopter service that will fly you up to the top of a mountain and let you ski/snowboard down the mountain and they will pick you up in a car. Zach grew up near skiing mountains so he was a very experienced snowboard rider and was even able to do tricks off of jumps. Kyle lived in a city where there were no mountains to snowboard on and Kyle only went snowboarding occasionally whenever he was on vacation. Kyle and Zach met at collage and formed a friendship over snowboarding. After Zach’s plane had landed they went to their hotel room, got dressed and went into their helicopter. Once they were strapped up and dropped off onto the mountain they were on their own. The air was thin up in the mountains of Utah. There was no turning back. Zach started off and Kyle followed behind. Zach was a lot smarter than Kyle was, and also Zach understands what to do when they are in tough situations. After about 30 minutes of riding they came to a problem. 

“ The snow is so deep that I am having trouble turning.” Kyle said.

“ Yeah so am I but don’t stop or you will get stuck.” Zach told Kyle. So they kept riding but after about five minutes Kyle had to stop and drink water.

Zach was really mad at him because he knew that it would be difficult to get going again. Once Kyle was ready to go again they came to another problem. They were not moving.

“I told you.” Zach said with anger.

“Sorry.” Kyle said. After thinking for a while Kyle started to move again, and so did Zach. But the snow was so thick that neither one of them could turn. They were picking up speed fast. Zach was a bit smarter than Kyle so Zach decided to control his fall by landing on his back. But Kyle continued to speed ahead. Kyle had so much speed that he leaned forward a bti to much and he started to roll down the hill. Kyle kept rolling and rolling down, no matter how hard he tried to stop he couldn’t. He was rolling so fast that his snowboard came undone and he was finally able to balance himself out. Once he stopped, he didn’t get up. Zach raced down to him. He thought that Kyle had seriously injured himself. 

“That was awesome!” Kyle yelled out with excitement. Some how Kyle didn’t do anything serious at all.

“I thought you died.” Zach said. They had enough of the thick and heavy snow, so they started to move into the woods, where the snow was lighter but it was more dangerous. Kyle knew how dangerous riding in the trees were because he hit one once and broke his leg. Zach enjoyed riding in the woods because they were able to do all sorts of mini jumps that they found. The jumps were made out of rocks and logs. After a bit they found a big rock that was big enough to get a lot of air time on it. Once they hit the rock, they heard something roar. It turns out that they had just ridden over a bear cave. And they had woken up the bear inside, that bear was as angry as a bee whose hive just got destroyed

“GO, GO, GO!” Kyle yelled. They rode as fast as they could and eventually broke into the open side of the mountain again. 

“Ride in Zig Zags and he will get confused and not know who to go after.” Zach told Kyle. So they did that, but the bear would not give up. No matter how much they did it the bear never gave up. Kyle was making a huge mistake while trying to get away. Although Zach to him to ride in Zig Zags, he was turning to much and it was slowing him down and the bear was less then 30 feet away from him.

“This isn’t working.” Kyle exclaimed. For a second Kyle was so scared that he almost fell over. The bear kept chasing them and chasing them. 

“Lets split up because the bear can only follow one of us and then if we lose him lets meet up again.” Kyle said. Zach hated the idea because he knew that if they got lost they would have a very hard time finding each other.

“What happens if we get separated to much and can’t find each other.” Zach responded.

“If you have another idea I am open to suggestions.” Kyle said. So They split into two different paths. The bear followed Zach. Zach knew that it would get tired at some point so after 10 more minutes of riding, the bear gave up. Kyle went back the way he came but he couldn’t find Kyle at all.

“Kyle, where are you?” Zach yelled out into nothing It was getting dark as well and then he would have an even harder time finding him. So Zach sat and thought . Then he looked behind him. He saw that Kyle was just sitting on the mountain and drinking a water bottle from his backpack . Zach was a much better rider than Kyle, so Kyle knew that Zach would go far so he stayed put after seeing the bear chase him.

“Where were you, I’ve been looking for you?” Zach asked.

“After the bear followed you I just sat down and relaxed, I’ve been here the whole time.” Kyle told Zach.

“What if the bear came back the way it came, then what would you have done.” Zach asked Kyle.

“I probably would have been dead.” Kyle said. Zach let out a little laugh was just relieved that they were both fine. But they still had to make it down the mountain before it got dark. Just then another roar came into the air. The bear was back, and he was mad.

“I knew that he would come back, they don’t give up that easily.” Zach exclaimed.

“That bear is like my dog, it always follows us.” Said Kyle. Zach and Kyle were tired of running from this bear, so they took off, they went straight down the mountain without stopping. They were going 50mph, and the bear could barely keep up because Grizzly Bears can only run up to a speed of 35 mph. Zach was able to control himself going that fast, but Kyle was having a hard time keeping up at that speed. But the fear that had struck Kyle once he realized it was either going fast or being eaten by a bear, which is something that was not on his bucket list. So he was able to keep up and out of the bears way. After a while they were able to get rid of the bear. By the time that they did it was almost night time. They still had a long way to go, so they got started. The tree branches were like arms trying to grab at them as they were riding.

“I’m never going on an unexplored mountain again.” Kyle said. They both agreed to that. Zach and Kyle were so close to the bottom of the mountain that they could see the car.  They rode down the final stretch of the mountain with relief because they were finally able to get away from this mess of a trip.Finally they unstrapped their boards and got into the car. 

“I was about to leave because it took you so long.” said the Driver. Kyle and Zach looked at each other and look back at the driver.

“If I told you what happened you would say I’m crazy.” Zach told the Driver. 


The author's comments:

This short story is about a man who goes snowboarding with his friend in Utah. I wrote this story because I like to snowboard and I lke to go with my friends and sometimes my familys goes to Utah to Ski/Snowboard. I can relate to the main character in this story a lot because we both enjoy snowboaring but can enounter trouble sometimes


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