Tree Well - It really does happen...

[D.T.]

Here is an article regarding tree well safety.

[philw]

In dry powder they are a lot harder than 8 seconds to get out of. It takes you longer than that to get up if you're daft enough to try sitting down ;-)

The classic demonstration for newbie heli-boarders is for a guide on skis to jump in a well. The guide waves a pole about above his head. If it's a bad snow year you'll be able to see it.

I suppose it's obvious, but I think it helps if you ride so that if you do fall, you fall in the safest way for the tree wells. That is, go in sideways and don't get inverted. That's not the same as "aiming for the gaps", which isn't a good tactic in tight trees (you need to be in the gaps, so your board may well be off to one side).

[Chubz]

Dragon

Picture yourself about 4 inches tall and riding across a golf course putting green and you fall headfirst into the cup with the flagstick still in it. Now get out with snow choking you, flag stick in your way and your board clamped to your feet that you cant reach. It's not fun or easy.

Sorry I'm a old Steve Martin fan when he use to do stand up, he had some jokes he use talk about "getting small" and going inside vaccuum cleaners.

[Head Monkey]

D-Sub: yup, I’m Happy Monkey Snowboards. I’m working on alpine prototypes this season and I’ll be sure to post if I come up with something I like.

[Art]

Mike I would love to see your product some time. What part of town is your production facility in? Art

[D-Sub]

D-Sub: yup, I’m Happy Monkey Snowboards. I’m working on alpine prototypes this season and I’ll be sure to post if I come up with something I like.

best of luck with that! always nice to see someone making carving boards. youve built a few before Im sure? how did the riders like them? got any youve built layin around?

[dano]

I did this at Wildcat many years ago alone and deep in a glade. I went over a lip, then tried to swoop between 2 pine trees, my board pearled suddenly, I went over the handlebars and went face first into the well between the trees, my board got stuck in the crust above so I was hangin upside down hugging a tree. I had no leverage at all. After flailing around uselessly for a bit, I just reached up, unclipped both my toe bails and fell to the bottom of the hole. I had to pretty much brawl my way out and it was near impossible to get my board back on again and get going. I was so tired!

I never knew what it was called or that it was dangerous. I bet it would have been really tough to get out of strappy bindings...as that poor bastard that died found out. I hope he didn't suffer too much..

Yet another superiority that those with plates enjoy: Easy egress!

[Art]

When I was about 10 I was skiing an Snowcrummy Summit And went into a tree well. I had a few things going for me though. 1) The climate and conditions at Snoqualmie (Now Snoqcentral) were such that there was never any powder so asphyxiation was not a problem. 2) On my coolass K2 Stingers I had some awsome Spademan bindings(if you rented skiis in the 70s you probably know what these were) that I could release with my skipole by pulling to get free. 3)At the time I was stupid enough to not know how dangerous the potential was so there was no panic involved. My friends were in front of me and did not see me catch an edge and literally swan dive into the well. Happened last year in Sun Vally to a local on the side of a marked run (DRT), so it can happen if the universe says so. Be cool

[bobdea]

that makes for great treewells that could end someone easily.

been in a couple myself but never head first thank god.

I did pull a dude out of one once, it really pissed me off though because a whole family of people in one peice *** bags was standing there staring at a guy that was stuck head first and I almost ended in there as well, because these jackasses were in the way, I had nowhere to goif I did not want to hit them.

as I was going in there to help the guy out, they were telling me I would get stuck too and not to do it, but I would rather get stuck and keep someone from dying than gawking at them and taking the chance.

anyway, I helped the guy out and it turned out that the same thing happened to him, he came around the corner and the family of douchbags was standing there and he had no place to go, he was pissed at them and said he was never happier to see snowboarder.

as a side note, the guy took a breather and then I followed him out of the woods and into some bumps that guy was one heck of a skier, so probably as your skill level goes up and the faster you go in the the woods the more probable it is that you might end up in one.

the bottom line is ride with a buddy and if you are in front, take a look uphill and make sure your friend is still visable every couple hundred feet.

[Guest Ghostrider]

I got in a treewell in Blue Sky at vail. First time i'd ever really been off piste and had no clue what they were until I was in one and had to find my way out. I'd say it took a good 20 minutes. I had never been so tired in my life thats for sure. I thought about taking off my board but when i would lean back and brace myself with my arm, id just drop in the snow up to my shoulder so I figured i'd never get my board back if i took it off. After lots of yelling and calling on a radio (that quickly was out of range) I just started rolling like an alligator until I was in snow hard enough to get my feet back under me.

I bought one of those really loud whistles the next day.

[Gleb]

my jacket comes equipped with a whistle right on the zipper. Also, i have my fox 40 whistle from my reffing job. Those can defintly be heard for miles. Also, i'm not too aware of how many resorts actually have this, buts its called a recco passive transmitter. There are also other useful locator things that i believe are really important to have in large places like vail. there must be something that acts like an emergency beacon for the ski patrol or something?