The snow came without warning. One minute four hikers were crossing a ridge in thin sunlight, and the next they were walking inside a white wall: Ida, a nurse; Jonas, a student; his little sister Pia, who was nine; and Mr. Lee, a retired teacher who had been climbing this mountain for forty years. They could no longer see the path, the wind was rising, and Jonas, who had suggested the shortcut, was very quiet. Then Pia pointed. Through the snow stood a tiny hut.
Inside there was a wood stove, one candle and a deck of cards, and nothing else. But each of them had brought a little food: noodles, an onion, a stock cube and a piece of cheese. Ida lit the stove, Pia sliced the onion with great seriousness, and Mr. Lee stirred the pot, and together they made the best dinner any of them could remember. Afterward they played cards by the light of the candle, told stories and laughed until Pia fell asleep with her head on her brother's arm.
At dawn the snow stopped, and the lights of a rescue team appeared on the path below. Before they went down, Mr. Lee suggested that they should all meet at the hut again, and nobody needed to be asked twice. The next summer, there were four sleeping bags in the hut again.