Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/12/28/watch-these-tree-well-rescues.html
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Any skier without a truly satisfying tree well experience is not living life. It’s best to shoot for the full inversion.
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I prefer the white sand well experience myself.
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Had a good friend on patrol rescue and attempt cpr (unsucessful) on an immersed boarder. Not a good day at work.
Piss off.
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I’m an occasional skier and boarder but have never had this unfortunate experience.
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I’m wondering why one would be stuck? Barring physical injury why would one not simply twist out of the bindings and haul oneself out?
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If the snow is light and deep, there’s not a lot to push off of for leverage, it can be a bit like quicksand. Depending on conditions, an immersed skier/boader could push themselves deeper as they struggle to access gear or self-extricate.
Simplest answer, don’t ski alone.
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"you never know whats out here, just like in business… "
what a fucking douche, exploiting a near tragedy to promote a corporate agenda. Embarrassing.
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’ #thanksTRUMP
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My mood went from “I’d love to ski in that powder” to “I’ll stick to the groomed trails” in about 45 seconds.
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I read and re-read the headline, trying to work out what it was about and thinking there was a spelling mistake. Now I know about “tree wells”.
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Uh, yeah, I guess I should then.
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Actually, I think the near tragedy interrupted a corporate team building thing. So the remark is rather understandable. And it isn’t really a corporate agenda only thing, team building and leadership are used in all sorts of settings.
Also, I think we should rename them from Tree Well to Taun-Taun traps!
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Ha, yeah - Just get a bit persnickety sometimes, especially when the post header reads OMG LOLZ NOPE surrounding a topic of awareness while moving around in the outside world.
Have a happy new year.
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An old highschool memory that still makes me giggle when I think about it… Best friends: Lisa and Cindy - Lisa is tall and gangly; Cindy is really tiny. I heard my buddy laughing as we were heading up the slope on the lift - he pointed down to the far side of the run… There was Lisa straddling a tree - ski on each side. It was a relatively steep stretch and little Cindy was trying to pull her off, but inevitably whenever it looked like she was going to succeed, something slipped and Lisa would slowly slide back into the tree. We worried for a bit, but you could see that they were laughing, so we assumed no injuries. We must have seen that cycle 5 or more times before we got too far up. They were gone by the time we skied down to the spot. When we finally caught up to them later we asked why they didn’t just pop the skis off - they said they looked at each other when they finally made it to the bottom and asked the same question.
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You as well.
I have had to reach up to remove the skis which were on the surface. It was mostly fun, mostly. Not really off the track though or anything.
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OMG, now there is another weird outdoor death thing I have to worry about. I’m staying inside with my computer.
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If you’re an occasional skier and boarder hopefully you’re smart enough not to go into back country areas where this is a very easy situation to find yourself in. Tree wells can be found in off-piste areas between pistes, but if lots of other people are skiing/boarding nearby the wells likely to be less hazardous given how much more the snow shifted around (which will help fill the wells somewhat); they’re also going to be less hazardous simply because other people are much more likely to come across you and save your sorry arse.
Also @leicester is right. If you’ve ever fallen in proper powder you should know it can be really hard to get up, even if you’ve just fallen on your arse. You move, you sink further; you try to wiggle an arm and push yourself up, the arm sinks; etc.
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This stuff scares the shit out of me. It’s never happened to me or someone close to me, but living in BC, you are always hearing stories of people getting stuck in tree wells and avalanches. Some make it out, but many don’t. Scary.
When you are in the backcountry, you gotta know what you’re doing.
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I can’t imagine having that much confidence in training to be able to tell someone with their head in the snow not to move. Kept picturing scenarios where that was the wrong advice. This is why I am not a ski patroller.
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I’m glad I watched this when I did, which was an hour after I got home from skiing. Tons of trees in powder in between the groomers. I’ve known to stay away from them, but seeing this is different.
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