Mountain Adventure

From Hamster Central WIKI

by forum member Pophammy

"I can’t believe it! We’re nearly there!" screamed Peppermint the hamster, pressing his nose against the window to get a better view of the mountains.

"Let me see! Let me see!" his friend Rolo scrambled over the seat to see, "Woah, look at the height of that thing."

"According to my Pocket Guide to the Mountains, some of them reach over 4000m!" squealed Runty excitedly across the aisle of the coach.

"Look, there’s a hamster skiing! Just imagine, we might be doing that tomorrow." sighed Angel.

"Should I wear my pink coat today or should I wear the purple one?" Lucky rummaged through her carefully-packed suitcase, "Or maybe I should wear my anorak?"

"Lucky, for the thousandth time, we don’t care!" bellowed Peppermint. Lucky had rearranged her outfit at least 5 times!

"Look! Look! There it is! The Wooden Palace Lodge! Our hotel!" squealed Rolo, who had now stolen Peppermint’s window-seat.

Every year Year 6 of Hamholes J & I School went on a week-long skiing trip to Les Gets in the Alps.

"All right everyone, once we are off the coach we will collect our bags if we don’t already have them and follow me indoors." Mrs Bertham (pronounced Bert-ham), the teacher told them.

Peppermint, Runty, Rolo and Angel headed for the side of the bus where the bags were stored whilst Lucky, who already had hers, lugged it indoors.

"Woah, this place is cool!" gasped Rolo as she and the others came through the doors with their bags. There was a big fire burning in the cosy reception area and homely wooden panelling on the walls.

"It’s the perfect ski lodge retreat!" sighed Angel dreamily.

"All right children, we’re all checked in. Now remember, be on your best behaviour at all times, we are representing our school here," came the teacher’s loud voice, "Now, can you all remember the groups we sorted out?"

There were nods all around.

"Good. OK, Miss Hamstead and I will be in room 11, Marble’s group will be in room 13, Sherbet’s in room 15 and Peppermint’s in room 17."

"Yes!" screamed Rolo, "My big brother was in that room and it has a view of the ski slopes!"

Mrs Bertham cast a stern look in her direction, "Now, you will each have a room key. Peppermint, catch!" She chucked the keys at him.

"Here you go," he handed out the keys, "Now for the room!"

The hamsters raced up to their room. Rolo was first so she stuck in her key.

"Do you think they’ll have bubble bath? Ooh, and some free shampoo, I forgot to pack mine!" squealed Lucky. The door opened...

"Wow, it’s got a balcony!" yelled Rolo, "I can see Sherbet! Hey, Sherbet, over here!"

"Bags the bed by the window!" called Lucky as she checked out the bathroom, "Hooray! There’s free shampoo!"

After the hamsters had unpacked their bags there was a knock on the door.

"Hello?" It was Mrs Bertham, "Oh, you’re in there. I’ve just come to say that we will be having lunch in a few minutes, and then you’ll have the afternoon free to do what you want, except skiing or snowboarding (that’s for tomorrow!). But you can go to the pool, the gym, try an adventure trail or the dance studio."

"Dance studio, now that’s more like it!" thought Lucky.

"As I was saying," continued Mrs Bertham, "Lunch will be in a few minutes. Meet us in reception. But remember, after lunch be back and ready for dinner by 6 o'clock! Goodbye!" and she was gone.

"Well come on then, what are we waiting for? I’m starved!" called Peppermint as he rushed to the door.

"Boy, that was the biggest lunch I’ve ever eaten!" announced Runty as he leaned back in his chair.

"I think if I go swimming I’ll sink!" laughed Angel.

"Well, you can have a woggle then! Let’s go get our swimming cossies!" Peppermint sprang up. It took more than a long coach journey and a big lunch to stop him!

A few minutes later and they were walking down the corridor to the lifts and the swimming pool!

"Hey Runty, where’s your goggles?” asked Angel.

"Oops, must have left them on the dressing table, be right back!" Runty ran back to the room. As he reached for his goggles he tripped over Rolo’s bag. Out fell a waterproof toy turtle.

"Rolo? With a cuddly toy? That doesn’t make sense, I thought she was a tomboy!" he said to himself.

"5 towels please!" Peppermint asked the hamster at the desk when Runty had caught them up.

"Here you go! Changing rooms are over there. Boys on the left, girls on the right." The hamster told them.

"Hey Rolo, why was this in your bag?" Runty asked her, holding up the turtle.

"Turty! OK, OK, so I have a toy turtle. I’ve had him since I was a baby and I always take him swimming with me. We can play catch with him if you like." confessed Rolo.

"Oh, that is so sweet," cooed Lucky, "come on, let’s get going, I’m cold."

When Peppermint and Runty came out of the changing rooms the girls were already waiting.

"What took you so long you great bunch of slow coaches?" called Rolo.

Peppermint dive-bombed her and Runty went for the rest of the girls. Soon they were all giggling.

After a long swim Lucky found she was getting numb paws.

"I think I’ll hit the changing rooms and then head for the sauna. I’m going numb and need a relaxing steam!" announced Lucky.

"OK, we’ll meet you in the room in quarter of an hour. You do have a watch, right?" asked Peppermint. "Right here," answered Lucky, "See you guys later!"

When the quarter of an hour was up and the 5 hamsters were back together in their room they thought about what to do next.

"I know! Why don’t we try an adventure trail! The moment Mrs Bertham mentioned them I thought they sounded fun!" suggested Angel.

"Great idea, Angel. Let’s go to reception and ask for a map of the route." Runty always liked to be nice and organised!

Angel was right, the adventure trail they chose was fun! It took them on a walk through the mountains. Lucky thought she saw a reindeer and they even bumped into Marble’s group coming back from a different trail! But by the time they got back to the lodge, they were exhausted! The friends decided to go to the bar for a drink.

"5 cokes please," said Peppermint to the barham.

"Coming right up! Ahh, you must be with the group of school hamsters! Are you having a good time?" asked the inquisitive barham as he handed them their cokes.

"Great, thanks," gurgled Rolo with a mouthful of coke. "Hey Peppermint, what time is it?" questioned Angel. "About half past 5, why? Oh my goodness! We need to get ready for dinner! I totally forgot!" panicked Peppermint, frantically gulping down his coke and trying to get back to the room at the same time.

"Oh no! I forgot to decide what to wear!” moaned Lucky when they were back in their room.

"Wow, big tragedy. Here, wear this.” Rolo threw Lucky’s denim skirt and purple sleeveless top at her.

"Hey, these actually look quite good together! Thanks Rolo!” Lucky smiled at her boyish friend.

After they’d had a slightly smaller dinner than lunch the teacher made an announcement.

"Right class, tomorrow you will be doing one of three activities, depending on what group you are in. But don’t worry if you’re not doing the activity you want, you’ll do it either on Wednesday or Thursday! The activities will be skiing, snowboarding and ice-skating. The groups will be the room groups. The hams in room 13 will be snowboarding, the hams in room 15 will be ice-skating and the hams in room 17 will be skiing."

"Yes! I love skiing!" squeaked Angel.

"Yeah, me too," agreed Runty.

Peppermint and Rolo preferred snowboarding and Lucky liked ice-skating.

"OK then everyone, time to go to bed, it’s past ten o’clock you know!" Called Mrs Bertham as she herded her class up the stairs, "Goodnight!"

"What a great day that was," stated Peppermint when they were tucked up in bed.

"Yeah," agreed Lucky, "and can you believe, these sheets feel like silk and they’ve got gorgeous patterns on them!"

"Lucky!" moaned the others. But soon, all that could be heard in the room was the loud snoring of Rolo and Lucky muttering quietly to herself in her sleep!

Knock! Knock! A loud banging on the door woke them all up.

"Are you awake in there? Rise and shine! You have a busy day ahead!" Mrs Bertham liked early starts!

"But Miss, it’s only 7 o'clock!" whined Rolo.

"Now Rolo, you are not a sloth. Get up! Breakfast will be in half an hour." When Mrs Bertham was ready to go she was ready to go and there was no stopping her!

As the sleepy hams got dressed Peppermint remembered that they were going skiing.

"Yes! We’re going skiing! We’re going skiing!" he chanted as he wriggled into a thick woolly jumper.

"I wonder what it feels like, going up, up, up in a ski lift, I’ve always wanted to try one!" puzzled Runty aloud.

"Ooh, I haven’t, I think it seems quite scary!" Lucky shivered at the very thought.

"Come on, we need to get going or we’ll miss breakfast!" Peppermint was practically out the door and eating breakfast already! The others followed him downstairs.

"Hello, I’m here to take the skiers skiing," came a voice through the doorway when the class had finished breakfast.

"That would be us, I’m Peppermint, this is Runty, that’s Angel, she’s Lucky and this is Rolo," Peppermint introduced the friends to the ski instructor.

"great! I’m Rupert, and we’ll be skiing on Mount Chéry today, that’s the one just over there. But first, we need to go to the practice slope on top of the mountain. We’ll have to use the ski lifts." Rupert told them.

"Oh no! I hate ski lifts! You know, I have a bad feeling about this," moaned Lucky.

"Oh come on, Lucky, it’s a ski lift! What could possibly happen with Rupert here?" Peppermint cheerfully asked the terrified Lucky.

He had no idea just how much was going to happen...

"Come on, Angel, hurry up! We’re going to miss the ski lift!" Rolo urged her friend on as they climbed up to the lift drop-off station.

"Almost there, oh no! Run Angel, run! It’s going to leave!" Peppermint got his friend to move with the hint of panic in his voice, "Ha ha, tricked ya!"

"Meany," grunted Angel, upset.

"Hooray! It’s here!" cried Rolo excitedly.

The hamsters scrambled in and sat in the seats at the side.

"Hey, we’re the only hamsters in this thing!" exclaimed Runty aloud.

"I don’t like it, get me off!" wailed Lucky.

Then, the moment they had all been waiting for (except for Lucky), the ski lift jumped into action! It sailed across the mountain side, cutting a clear path through the deep blue sky. The smell of fresh mountain air lingered in the lift and the slight whoosh as it trundled along completed the perfect start to the day.

"What a beautiful view," breathed Angel. Even terrified Lucky had to agree, it was a view to die for!

From the lift they could see everything, the birds swooping and diving in the sky, the Wooden Palace Lodge, they could even see Sherbet’s group heading for the minibus to go ice-skating! But best of all, they could see the skiers, cutting perfectly straight lines through the soft, crisp snow, gliding around trees and other obstacles in their path.

"I wish I could do that,” thought Rolo to herself.

Suddenly, their fantasy was interrupted by a startling jolt. The car ground to a halt.

"W-w-what’s happening? Are we there? W-why has it stopped? Does it always do this?" Lucky bombarded Rupert with questions.

"It’s never done this before, maybe there’s something on the line stopping us from moving. I’m going to go out the escape hatch in the roof to have a look." Rupert reached up to open it. As he did the hams were hit by an icy cold wind.

"Rupert, don’t do it, don’t go out there, Rupert!” Lucky’s terrified voice trailed off into the distance.

The car made another alarming jolt forward. Rupert lost his balance. He was hanging on for dear life with one hand. Another jolt and he would fall. He needed help. But would he get it in time?

"Hang on Rupert, I’m coming!" Peppermint jumped onto Rolo’s shoulders and scrambled up the hatch.

"He’s crazy, he’ll get himself killed!" whimpered Angel.

"Runty, give me a leg up, he’s gonna need help!" Rolo climbed onto Runty’s shoulders and wriggle her top half out the hatch. She grabbed Peppermint’s leg.

"To stop you from falling!" she told him.

Peppermint reached out.

"Rupert! Grab my hand!" Rupert reached for Peppermint's hand.

"They’re not gonna make it! Oh, I’ll miss them!" Lucky felt dizzy.

"They’ll be OK. Don’t worry." Angel told her, sounding more confident than she actually felt.

"Urgghh," moaned Lucky, and she fainted clean away.

"Nearly there, just a little bit further, gotcha! Now Rolo, Runty, I’ve got Rupert, pull us in!" Peppermint and Rupert were now relying on the strength of Rolo and Runty. Angel had to look after Lucky.

Rolo and Runty heaved for all they were worth. They tugged and strained and just managed to get Peppermint in through the hatch. Then the three of them could work together and get Rupert in. Eventually, after a lot of pulling, they got him through the hatch. The three of them sat puffing and panting. They were just in time. The car took another lurch then stopped abruptly.

"Thank you all so much, if it hadn’t been for your courage and strength, I probably would be dead. Thank you, especially you Peppermint." Rupert couldn’t thank them enough. Peppermint blushed.

"Ahh, it was nothing, I felt I had to do something and, well, what else could I do? I couldn’t sit back and watch!" Peppermint was highly embarrassed with all the praise.

Suddenly Lucky woke up again. She looked up and heard a strange buzzing, whirring noise.

"I’m saved!" She exclaimed out loud.

"Yes, it’ll all be all right now," said Angel soothingly.

"No, I mean, look, a helicopter!" She pointed to the helicopter that was slowly circling nearer, "Someone must have alerted the rescue team!"

"Yeah! Wahooh! We’re gonna be all right!" Peppermint, Runty and Rolo cheered and danced around, despite their exhaustion.

The helicopter let down a ladder and a rescue hamster clambered down.

"You will be all right, we’re coming in." the rescue ham’s voice rung out as he jumped onto the car and hung onto his ladder. He opened the hatch and, again, the hams were hit by an icy wind.

"We’ll take the children first." came his voice.

"Go on, Lucky, you said you wanted to get off," Peppermint prodded her up the hatch.

"It’s all right, I’ve got you," the calm rescue ham pulled her up and carried her up the ladder to the helicopter.

Angel went up next. She was a bit braver but still scared. Then came Runty. He was a bit scared as well. Peppermint and Rolo showed no fear, though Rolo’s tummy was a bit twitchy at the thought of being 3000m up in the air!

Rupert came last. He felt that after what he’d been through, nothing would ever be scary again!

"Hey Rupert, if you don’t want to give us that ski lesson, that’s fine, but if you do, then we have open arms!" Peppermint and his pals grinned at their new friend.

"Anything for you lot, since you saved my life!" Rupert grinned back.

"Excuse me for being nosy, but did I just hear that these young hams saved your life? I’m Sandy Phillips - a reporter- and when I heard that there was a rescue mission, I jumped at the chance to make an article. But a group of school hamsters here on a trip, saving a ski instructor from falling off a cable car, this’ll make front page news!" the reporter danced about with excitement.

"You mean, we’ll be on the front page of the newspaper?" Exclaimed Lucky, "Wow, I always wanted to be on the front page."

"It was hardly you, it was all Peppermint!" screamed Rolo, sticking up for her best friend.

"Excuse me, but do you mind if I can get an interview?" asked Sandy.

"No problemo," replied Rolo, coolly.

A few minutes later and the hams were at the top of the mountain and the interview was over.

"Just imagine, us on the front page!" squealed Lucky, "We’ll be heroes!"

"I believe for you the correct term would be heroines," said typical Runty.

"Oh Runty!" moaned the others.

"Now Rupert, about that ski lesson," grinned Peppermint.

"Oh yeah, just follow me," the hams followed Rupert into the ski dome where the hamsters practised and where the lessons took place.

"Now," said Rupert, "Have any of you ever skied before?"

When the hamsters got back from a great ski trip they were greeted by the rest of their class mates holding up a big banner saying 'Welcome Back Heroes!'

"We figured that not every class has it’s own heroes so we decided to arrange this for you!" Mrs Bertham explained.

"Our own party, wow!" breathed Lucky happily.

"How many times do I have to tell you- only me and Peppermint are heroes, Lucky, Rolo and Angel are heroi-" Runty was stopped abruptly by Peppermint and Rolo grabbing him and running him into the party.

"Come on Runty, chill out!" they screamed.

"But there’s still one thing I don’t understand," puzzled Angel to her friends in different groups as she told them what happened, "How did the rescue team know where to look to find us?"

"Simple," replied her friend Sherbet, "We saw the ski lift stop and someone climb out and get stuck so we figured we had to alert someone! It was only afterwards that we realised it was your group!"

The next day at breakfast, Marble and his friends shouted the hams over.

"Hey, you lot, you’re on the front page!"

"Hey, so we are!" cried Angel as she saw the picture. It was a stunning air-shot of Peppermint climbing to rescue Rupert. You could just make out the others through the glass of the cable car. The headline read 'SCHOOLHAM FIVESOME RESCUE SKI INSTRUCTOR FROM DANGEROUS FALL'.

"Wow, we really are on the front page!" squealed Lucky excitedly.

"Well, this trip really turned out to be something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives!" announced Peppermint as he fastened his seatbelt for takeoff. It was the end of a brilliant week and the class were boarding the plane to go home.

"Yeah, it was really great!" agreed Runty.

The seatbelt sign lit up and the engines revved. The plane hurtled down the runway and leapt into the air.

"Farewell, dear Les Gets, I will not forget thee!” called Lucky, waving out the window.

"Or Mount Cherry, where all the adventure happened!" agreed Rolo.

"Chéry, not Cherry!" Angel corrected her.

"Well, whatever it’s called, this adventure will always, and I mean always remain with us!" laughed Peppermint.