Leo's gloved hand hauled over the icy lip of the ledge, his crampons digging into the snowpack as he pulled himself up onto the narrow shelf beside Astra.
"Good girl, Astra," Leo panted, his breath pluming in white clouds against his frosted visor. He patted the falcon's chest before turning his headlamp beam into the dark rock alcove.
"Julian! Chloe! Mark!" Leo called out, kneeling beside the three shivering teenagers. "I'm Ranger Croft. You're safe now."
He immediately unclipped his heavy medical kit, assessing their condition with quick, professional eyes. Julian was suffering from moderate hypothermia and a sprained right ankle from the earlier ice-fall; Chloe and Mark were severely cold and disoriented, but conscious and free of major fractures.
"My ankle broke through the ice crust when the ledge collapsed," Julian explained, his teeth chattering uncontrollably under his hood. "We tried to climb back up, but the wind was too strong."
"You did the right thing taking shelter in this alcove," Leo assured them, pulling out three heavy foil space blankets and wrapping them securely around the students.
He applied liquid heat pads to their chest harnesses and handed each of them an insulated flask of hot electrolyte broth from his pack.
"Drink slow," Leo instructed gently. "It will warm your core from the inside out."
Outside the alcove, the nor'easter reached a new level of fury. A sudden ninety-knot wind gust slammed into the cliff face, dislodging a massive snow slab on the upper ridge three hundred feet above! CRACK-BOOM!
A sharp, booming thud reverberated through the solid granite rock floor as a thousand tons of packed snow and ice broke free, initiating a massive powder avalanche down the main chimney! Astra shrieked a frantic warning call, taking flight instantly and circling high above the falling debris.
"Avalanche!" Leo yelled, diving into the alcove and pressing his body over the three students as a wall of white snow thundered past the cave entrance, blocking out the light!
Snow dust poured into the cave, coating their hoods and blankets in a fine layer of white powder. Leo held his stance over the teenagers, shielding their heads until the heavy rumble finally died away into the canyon below. Leo double-checked Chloe's pulse, holding her freezing hands inside his warm leather mittens to restore circulation to her fingers.
"You're doing great, Chloe," Leo said warmly. "Drink two more sips of the warm broth. It's packed with thermal calories."
Mark wrapped his space blanket tighter around his shoulders, nodding gratefully as the chemical heat pad began to warm his chest. Outside the cave, the avalanche roar died away into the abyss below, leaving a heavy blanket of white powder floating in the air. Astra hovered over the snow drift, her starlight quills flashing a steady green signal to indicate that the upper ledge path remained open.
Leo double-checked Chloe's pulse, holding her freezing hands inside his warm leather mittens to restore circulation to her fingers.