Tree Well Info from Mt Baker (and a sobering accident report...)

[Guest thomas_m]

Tree-well Safety:

http://www.mtbaker.us/safety/snow/prevention.html

Two Near-misses:

Near Miss #1

Near Miss #2

Fatal Accident

Drive safe guys...

T.

[Gleb]

don't have to worry bout that in the northeast. Its raining now:angryfire

[Fleaman]

Thanks for the heads up. We only get 200 cm of snow here at Apex, but the danger of slides and tree wells are real.

I really liked reading the first link. I found this funny

The most important prevention step is to remain on groomed runs (see Groomed and Ungroomed Trails section), resisting the urge to ski or snowboard through the trees during deep powder conditions, no matter how inviting the untracked powder looks

If I resisted, snowboarding would not be much fun!

[garyj]

I've fallen in a tree well after big snow and it's scary not to mention its hard to get out if you feet are uphill from your head.

Several years back some teen age kid fell in one at Mammoth and couldn't get out. His fall was fatal and he was only 30 feet off the run.

[ike]

http://www.bomberonline.com/VBulletin/showthread.php?t=8176&highlight=tree+wells

[Guest thomas_m]

Ike - I started that thread too...

[Guest thomas_m]

This time at Stevens Pass...

http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_011806WABskierkilledEL.1698c3a2.html

[ike]

haha, well i wasnt pointing it out for, u, i was doing it for the other people because that old one had alot of stories about them that they might like

[Gleb]

OMG i'm just so jealous that you actually get a chance to watch out for tree wells. the most we have to watch out for here is Big patches of exposed rocks, grass, straight liners (guilty as charged sometimes:nono:) and my out of controll ass getting flung across the slope.:(

[Galen]

The Baker article makes a good point about smaller trees being more of a risk then bigger ones. I got locked in a carve last year and went off the trail on my ass, board first into a small tree (about 10" in diameter) about 20 feet off the trail and went in up to my arm pits. I was lucky the tree was well spoked with branches, or I would have gone in deeper. In the PNW, larger old and 2nd growth trees tend to have the branches higher up, so the snow has an easier time of settling in around the trunk. Steer well clear of any trees that have branches low to the snow

[pm_wizard]

We have to be very careful of tree wells here too, you can get tangled on the roots, hit rocks and drown in the puddle....

5 cm of new snow this morning in Collingwood. That should cover some of the gaps.

John