Adventures — Francis Zuber Photography
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Tree Well Rescue at Mt. Baker
- Thread starter Benny Profane
- Start date
franciszuberphotography.com
MarzNC
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2020
Noticed a comment on the YouTube video, which was posted last week:
"The guy in the tree well is my ski buddy's uncle. Has 30 years of boarding experience up at Baker, knows his #### but got unlucky. Tried to shoot those narrow trees hoping for an opening below but wound up taking a tumble in the wrong place. My friend was telling me that he was in there for about 5 minutes before this man saved his life. It is a miracle and an excellent example of the dangers of deep snow immersion and tree wells. Even if you know the mountain, are skiing with friends and are an expert rider, the mountain does not care and can humble you quickly."
On another ski forum, a poster assumed that the boarder was a kid. He couldn't imagine that an experienced backcountry rider could end up in a tree well.
"The guy in the tree well is my ski buddy's uncle. Has 30 years of boarding experience up at Baker, knows his #### but got unlucky. Tried to shoot those narrow trees hoping for an opening below but wound up taking a tumble in the wrong place. My friend was telling me that he was in there for about 5 minutes before this man saved his life. It is a miracle and an excellent example of the dangers of deep snow immersion and tree wells. Even if you know the mountain, are skiing with friends and are an expert rider, the mountain does not care and can humble you quickly."
On another ski forum, a poster assumed that the boarder was a kid. He couldn't imagine that an experienced backcountry rider could end up in a tree well.
MarzNC
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2020
What I've read is that the boarder had only been down for 5 minutes. If the skier hadn't known how to get to the board safely and to dig down to his head quickly, the boarder was in serious danger of not having enough air in just a few more minutes. Since they both are clearly experienced with backcountry risks, keeping as calm as possible made a huge difference.
The fear in the skier's voice as he realized how deep the boarder was buried is noticeable. Even as he kept his voice calm when talking to the boarder.
I review the info on this website annually. Even though I don't ski where tree wells are an issue very often, it pays to know as much as possible even skiing in-bounds trees out west.
MarzNC
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2020
Fair to say that this story has gone viral worldwide. The rescue happened on March 3.
March 31, 2023, updated April 1
www.dailymail.co.uk
March 31, 2023, updated April 1
Viral snowboarder found buried alive in snow breaks his silence
A snowboarder who went viral after being found buried alive in heavy snow has spoken for the first time about his dramatic brush with death.
Benny Profane
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2020
I don't know. S***, as we all know, especially skiers and boarders, and especially tree skiers and tree borders, happens. Happens to all of us, and don't tell me otherwise. Don't matter how "experienced" you are (well, maybe a tiny bit), you aren't immune to stuff like that.
Sports Illustrated, back in it's day, decided to do sort of a back of the magazine series with Rick Reilly doing "extreme sports", which became all the rage back then, now it sells Mountain Dew. I used to work for them. His first article was about diving with schools of hammerhead sharks off Honduras. Cool pics. His second thing was heli skiing with CMH in Canada. On that trip, a very good and very experienced returning client died in a treewell. He was so experienced he was wearing this special one piece that CMH awarded customers that had done some amazing combo of verticle and flight time. Whoops. Not the PR CMH wanted for this new business. Sounds like the guy just separated from assigned partner (Rick? I forget. But at least someone a lot slower than him), and may have regretted that, upside down.
You would have to ban deep powder tree skiing to make it safe. Yeah, right.
Harvey
Administrator
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2020
So you're saying you could hang out under the snow for 5 minutes without much air and if? You. Struggled a little bit that's just seems I couldn't imagine that.Fair to say that this story has gone viral worldwide. The rescue happened on March 3.
March 31, 2023, updated April 1
Viral snowboarder found buried alive in snow breaks his silence
A snowboarder who went viral after being found buried alive in heavy snow has spoken for the first time about his dramatic brush with death.
MarzNC
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2020
I'm only noting what I've read in the last couple days. Don't have ANY experience and have no interest in backcountry skiing personally. Have great respect for those who like it. I have been reading about tree wells and basic avy awareness for years, especially after I starting exploring more mountain out west that get deep powder after gaining enough experience and technique to enjoy it.
Bottom line is the guy who was stuck in the tree well was both knowledgeable and very, very lucky and he knows it.
Benny Profane
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2020
They say that an air pocket forms from the heat of your breath, but, of course, after about fifteen to twenty, no oxygen.
Benny Profane
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2020
I found that article. 1991. No, it wasn't Rick Reilly, duh. But very well written, and, I gotta tell ya, not the best of ads for deep powder heli skiing. Especially for someone my age. It's hard. I'm thinking that snowboarding would be less physically taxing, but lord help you if you ever get stuck.
