Ski patrol warns of tree well danger

A YouTube video circulating among local ski patrol members warns of the danger of tree wells.

Tree wells form around the bases of evergreen trees when overhanging limbs interfere with the natural deposition of falling snow. The opening created around the tree trunk then partially fills with loose, unconsolidated snow.

These cavities can swallow a person in an instant. Such an accident can be compounded by snow adhering to overhanging limbs, which will often be dislodged on impact, further burying the victim. Survival chances for a buried tree well victim are very poor. Termed Non-Avalanche Related Snow Immersion Deaths (NARSID), suffocation can occur in minutes, especially when a skier or snowboarder enters a tree well head first.

Unfortunately, such fatalities are not uncommon, and several have already occurred in North America just this year. The video being studied by ski patrol members was originally intended to simply record a ski patrol training exercise, but one of the patrol members suffered an unplanned, head-first fall into a tree well; and the training session turned into a very real rescue mission.

Even with multiple experienced and well-trained ski patrol members immediately on scene, several minutes were necessary to free the victim, who fortunately survived. Typically, victims are completely immobilized in the loose snow, and struggling only compounds the entrapment. Three years ago, a Mount Hood snowboarder suffocated in a tree well after just 15 minutes, in spite of the fact that three others were on scene and attempting to extricate him.

One Santiam Pass ski patroller tells of an incident when a skier became trapped in a tree well only about 15 feet off a principal groomed ski run. "He was skiing alone and lucky that someone saw him go into the tree well," the rescuer said. "He was hung upside down by his skis and you couldn't see or hear him."

In this case, the rescuer had to go down inside the tree well with the victim, where she was able to release the victim's ski-bindings which held him prisoner. With the aid of another ski patroller, the victim was then pulled to safety.

Although it's late in the season, the snow pack in our local mountains is very deep right now; new-fallen snow can easily create and obscure potential tree well traps. The best way to avoid the danger is to steer clear of trees and other topographical features, such as rocks or creeks, where such wells could be present.