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‘So what’s the plan?’
‘It will take too long to reach them on foot and conditions are clear so, Meg, the air ambulance is going to airlift you, Rambo and Dino straight to the scene. I want you two to work together.’
Great. So much for avoiding him.
Knowing that if she made a fuss she’d just draw attention to herself, Meg gave a nod to acknowledge that she’d heard. Then she kept her head down, preparing herself and Rambo for the challenge ahead. She didn’t want to risk looking at Dino in case something showed on her face. If the team sensed that there was something going on between them, she’d never live it down. She was one of the boys. That was the way it was going to stay.
The helicopter dropped them at a safe distance from the base of the gully and Meg immediately put Rambo to work. Lives were at stake. This was no time to be thinking about kissing. Dino apparently felt the same way because he seemed equally focused. Either that or the kiss hadn’t affected him the same way it had affected her.
‘Can you believe they only have one working mobile phone between the three of them?’ Dino scanned the gully. ‘You can see where the avalanche started, above that section of wind slab. The others must have been higher up or they all would have been caught.’
‘People underestimate these mountains. That’s what makes them all the more dangerous.’ Meg heard Rambo bark and she pushed herself forward through the deep snow to the bottom of the gully where the dog was already digging.
‘He’s picked up a scent.’ She struggled the final few metres as Rambo carried on digging and barking. ‘How long has he been buried? Does he really stand a chance?’
‘There’s always a chance. Depends how near the surface he is and whether he has space in front of his mouth and nose. Victims often die of suffocation. Off the top of my head I think survival rates drop to about 35 per cent at thirty minutes. On the other hand, friends of mine pulled someone alive from an avalanche in Italy after ten hours, but admittedly that’s rare. He was in an air pocket and the weight of the snow hadn’t crushed him.’
Dino already had a shovel in his hand and he started to help Rambo. A few minutes later the sleeve of a jacket came into view. Rambo barked and continued to dig. Moments later a man’s face appeared, streaked with blood and crusted with snow. He looked at them, dazed, and Meg felt a rush of elation that he was still alive.
‘Hang on there. We’re going to get you out. Clever boy,’ she praised Rambo effusively, and then concentrated on helping Dino dig the last of the snow away.
‘I can’t feel my feet.’ The man was gasping for air and Dino dropped the shovel onto the snow and reached for his backpack.
‘That might be the cold, but it’s possible that you damaged your back as you fell so we need to be careful as we move you. Can you remember what happened?’
The man screwed his eyes shut, wincing with the pain. ‘Visibility was poor, I skied to the far left of the slope. Suddenly my legs went and I was falling. I rolled over and over, couldn’t breathe—tried to swim like they tell you to, tried to get my arms up…’ He opened his eyes. ‘Are my friends safe? They were behind me.’
‘They called us before they lost the phone battery. They saw the whole thing but they weren’t caught in it. The rest of the mountain rescue team is looking for them now. They were fine when they called.’ Meg tried to reassure him while helping Dino carry out the best examination he could in difficult circumstances.
‘Does this hurt? Can you feel this?’ He was treating the man for head, leg and possible spinal injuries, and Meg used her hands to dig away more of the snow so that Dino had room to see what he was doing.
‘Do you want me to contact the search-and-rescue helicopter?’
‘Helicopter?’ The man groaned. ‘I don’t think I can get into a helicopter.’
‘Trust me, it’s the best way. We’re going to put you in a vacuum mattress, Dave, to protect your spine,’ Dino explained. ‘You don’t have to do a thing. You’ll be winched into the helicopter and they’ll get you to hospital.’ He nodded to Meg and she quickly made the call while Dino started to prepare the casualty for the transfer.
Dave closed his eyes. ‘Can’t believe I’ve been caught in an avalanche in the Lake District. I’ve walked in the Alps, you know. Can you believe that? This is going to be so embarrassing down at the pub.’
Meg saw Dino’s mouth tighten and she knew he was annoyed by that flippant comment.
‘You could have died,’ she said mildly as she slipped the phone back into her pocket, ‘and so could your friends. The outcome could have been a lot worse than embarrassment.’
‘If you’ve done ski touring in the Alps then you must have carried transceivers? Shovels? Probes?’ Dino yanked his equipment out of his backpack and the man looked sheepish.
‘In the Alps, yes. I guess we were complacent here.’
‘Avalanches eat up complacent skiers and climbers. Don’t move, Dave. The winchman is going to lower the vacuum mattress and a stretcher and we’re going to get you to hospital.’ Dino walked across the snow to find a safe place for the helicopter to land while Meg and Rambo stayed next to the injured skier.
Dave put out a hand to the dog. ‘I have you to thank for being found. I recognise that guy. It’s Dino Zinetti, isn’t it? He used to be a member of the Italian ski team.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘I’m a keen skier. He was a maniac. His downhill times…’ Dave laughed. ‘Well, let’s just say he isn’t really in a position to lecture me for being reckless.’
‘He wasn’t lecturing. It isn’t our job to lecture.’ As the helicopter drew closer, Meg pulled together the rest of her gear, ready to move out. ‘But it is our job to point out where additional equipment might have helped so that people don’t put themselves in the same position again.’ The downdraft from the helicopter flung powdery snow through the air like a blizzard and Meg shifted her position and tried to protect the man from the sudden buffeting of icy wind.
It was only a matter of minutes before Dino came back with the stretcher and the vacuum mattress and together they moved Dave, careful to protect his spine.
