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Not hardboots, but this snowboarder is a lucky guy... treewell rescue.


slabber

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That's One Scary Situation and One Lucky Snowboarder That He Was Seen By Random Skier Who Fell In Same Area!

Here in the Sierras we've approaching 700 inches and this is the 1st year we have had to ever cancel our on mtn.  practices because of Deep Snow Risk!

We usually have our Palisades Ski Patrol come and give the usual safety talk to our athletes early in the season but this year in March I had to make a special presentation on SIS....Snow Immersion Suffocation and Treewells.

Over my 13 years in the Sierras I've found myself in Two Tree Well incidents.  90% of victims cannot get out by themselves!

Treewells Are Serious Shit!!                                                                               Ski With A Buddy!    Always Keep Your Buddy In Sight!   Keep Phone In Chest Pocket!   Carry A Whistle To Call For Help!  

Edited by barryj
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I think that shows two failed buddy pairings, not one successful one.

The rescuer's partner was way down the mountain: you can see him in the first frames. Can't hear either partner yelling to each other. 

The skier and the boarder who he saved were not together: the border's three mates were all down the bottom somewhere.  If the skier hadn't picked that line and also fallen immediately above the boarder, the outcome may have been different.
 

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4 hours ago, barryj said:

Only the uneducated as most people just don't know the risk! 

I was at Wolf Creek ski area the other day. The staff started educating the masses on tree well danger. Pretty weird, because last year during a 50" or so storm cycle, no one said anything and I was in the trees under the recommendation from a friend who has been in several tree wells.

 

I'm pretty sure they were accounting for idiots. Really unless it's a fluke accident, you have to make the conscious decision to go into trees that probably have them. A lot of the good tree runs there are trees with very high branches or no branches. Nothing like B.C. where a tiny plop in the snow could be a tree with 20+ft branches several feet down.

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Thanks for posting the vid link slabber.

I think some people know the risk and others don't. I've been giving it a lot of thought - the dangers we face while snowboarding.

I think sometimes we may end up in bad situations not because we are idiots or uninformed. Accidents happen and even those making mostly good decisions will have things go wrong. Best to be prepared and to be educated about the chance that you could become stuck or trapped.

There are things to consider, like how your gear may or may not play a role in how easily you might be able to help yourself out of some situations, or what gear to consider bringing with you that might prove useful if things go south.

Personally, how far do I want to take it, for inbounds or side-country resort riding? I'm trying to figure out my own gear setup in regards to resort riding. I recently had an episode of being stuck in deep snow just off of a groomed run, in small evergreens that looked innocuous. A miscalculation on my part turned an area that was just off the groom into a place where I was very stuck. It happened quickly in a situation where I didn't feel that I was taking an excessive risk. Yet, there I was, getting more and more upside down.

In the past, there have been instances where I was riding with others, when my partner, or myself, has gotten stuck or into some rather scary inbounds deep-snow events, that were not tree-wells, but terrain and tree related. Through being involved in these, and having discussions about what happened, and how to ride smarter, I think I learned and got better at being safer. Still, mistakes happen. We are human.

What can we do to play it safer on big days? Be prepared by having avalanche and snow safety training. Ride with a buddy and keep eyes on each other. Carry a day-pack with avi shovel, probe and wear your transceiver (on and broadcasting signal), have a storm whistle securely attached to yourself and within reach, have your charged phone accessible, carry a SPOT or Zoleo device (turned on and secured to you and accessible).

For tree wells situations we may want to consider that some styles of bindings may be easier to release in situations where one can not reach one's feet, or where tree branches or tree trunks, and the weight of the rider contribute to make it very difficult to release the toe clips on standard alpine snowboard bindings.

What other considerations should people keep in mind?

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On 4/1/2023 at 11:35 AM, barryj said:

Only the uneducated as most people just don't know the risk! 

I'm 100% in the uneducated camp. I've heard about tree wells but assumed you had to be much closer - like hitting the tree. We just don't get that amount of snow here, nor trees that far apart. 

Thanks for posting! I know a bit more now! 

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17 hours ago, lamby said:

What other considerations should people keep in mind?

From personal experience :smashfrea being able to reach and release your bindings while your headfirst in a treewell is rare.... and low on my survival list.

#1 is Stay Calm!  The more you thrash around the more snow falls in on top of you and the smaller your air pocket gets! 

I have Fintec heels so my release pull is at the top of my boots so much easier and probably the only way anyone is ever going to have a chance to reach and release from your bindings BUT remember your board is the only thing from keeping you going deeper into the treewell!   Only release from one binding only if you think it will help you get some leverage/advantage to work your way back up the tree trunk!

Also don't think it's only the large trees in some off piste glade that can swallow you!  I was at Northstar on  the main run at mid mtn. and I was working the powder stashes on the edge of the trail in and around  small trees and shrubs and pitched in headfirst.  I was almost directly under the lift and 100's of people were passing by just  20ft. away.....but nobody saw me, or the black base of my board pointing to the sky.  I of course was able to extract myself but that "small tree/shrub" I pitched into was probably just the top of a 20ft+ conifer sticking out!

https://snowbrains.com/video-pro-skier-shows-us-the-danger-of-tree-wells/

Prevention is so much better than triage so ride with a buddy and keep each other in sight at all times!  Have easy access to a storm whistle to make people aware of your location and situation!   

Be safe out there!!

 

 

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11 hours ago, barryj said:

Also don't think it's only the large trees in some off piste glade that can swallow you! 

Good point. My recent entrapment was in an area just off a groomer in a little stand of small evergreens. I could see people passing by after I came to a stop, and before I sank deeper. Not so much a tree-well as a tangle-up in small trees. Trees completely surrounded by what seemed like bottomless powder. My first mistake was trying to "roll" out of it, as I was simply laying mostly on top of the snow, head downhill. When I tried to roll out I sank deeper, head first. This made it harder to reach my bindings. My first move should have been to reach for my bindings while I had easier access to them. I'm think I'm going to place an order for some step-ins soon.

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If you know your buddy's coming, if you're truly inverted and breathing from the well's airspace, you may  be best waiting for the buddy. There's no obvious rush, and if you struggle much you may fill that airspace.

Step-ins are great, but you have to unload the pins to get them to release. If you're actually hanging by your board upside down, releasing them may not be quite as easy as one may at first suppose.

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2 minutes ago, philw said:

best waiting for the buddy. There's no obvious rush,

Stay Calm!,  so true........but easier said than done in most cases as the omg!, claustrophobic!, holy shit!, what do I do!, sets in....while hanging upside down!

6 minutes ago, philw said:

releasing them may not be quite as easy as one may at first suppose.

If your arms are free enough to maneuver  it was no problem In my upside down situation to release the Fintecs.

That is why it's recommended for skiers, when going into the pow/glades to remove their wrist straps from their poles..........once the poles are trapped by your side your hands are stuck there if in your wrist straps!

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Some people are going to freeze or panic no matter what. Some people won't. Some people are in between, and they're the ones "don't panic" is important advice for. Training can help tilt the scales, but I'm not sure how that could be done short of throwing people into tree wells. Training in avoiding tree wells and partner rescue seems more beneficial.

Hands in wrist straps are also a hazard in avalanche terrain for similar reasons.

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Got my heart rate up for sure.

Q:

1) Would walkie talkies help here, like on a backpack strap. I've been using them with carving to send a warning beep to my buddy when I see a straightliner pass me.  

2) Yelling.  How about the rescuer yelling for help!?  

3) We don't see it but does the rescuer make radio contact for additional help...maybe not needed after the dig out?  Wouldn't that guy be too cold or traumatized to ride out?

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Yeah no hand straps allowed in heliskiing or catskiing. Or leashes etc.

I carry a radio. They come with a remote mic which you can stick on a pack strap if you want it out there. I don't think they're massively useful other than for a rescuer to inform the rest of the group that you're helping someone so will be a while, but that no assistance is needed etc. The whistle has the advantage of being directional, as does the transceiver if it comes to that.

Don't know if the OP video guy rode away or not, I don't think you'd be too cold from a few minutes in a tree well. The one which has that issue is when someone falls into a creek, which I've seen a couple of times. Rescue from those can be fairly technical, and you have a massive time pressure if they're soaked through with near freezing water in minus 20... 😉 

I think the OP video guy was at a resort, so probably a mobile phone would been as good as a radio (if it wasn't in flight mode...). But a phone could have been used to call the patrol once the guy was out, maybe?

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When I worked at Solitude, I volunteered to help certify a Search and Rescue Dog. I was buried in a very small snow cave 5 feet under. I had a two-way radio, Ava-Lung and my Beacon. Even knowing that is was a controlled situation it was freaky at times. I was buried for a total of 45 minutes. The Dog found me! And it was my 40th Birthday!

 

Edited by dropthebody
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Damn, that does sound intense and 45 minutes is brutal.  Did you just lay there and think happy thoughts about snowboarding endless powder or what mind game did you play to pass the time?  PS last weekend they were blasting into the afternoon to mitigate.  

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  • 4 months later...
  • 6 months later...

last year, on a cat trip in BC, I noticed in real time that my woods partner riding skis popped out of  a ski on a steep steep.  all at once,  I turned the big 187 Tanker that I was riding sideways so I could help him look for his lost ski.  never in my imagination could I have envisioned that the volume of snow that I was plowing downhill would be able to simply vanish into a tree well.  just astonishing- and when it was full, the balance roiled downhill like water, which it is of course.

that was an education for me and it reminded me of when I dug up what I thought was a small septic field distribution box and discovered something about the size of a racquetball court.

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