A 29-year-old male snowboarder has passed away after falling into a tree well while snowboarding the Pemberton backcountry on Sunday, February 23rd.
When the snow is deep, we need to be very aware of the deadly dangers of tree wells. This tree well death in Whistler is the 4th tree well death that we know of in North America this winter. Please be careful out there, ski with a buddy, and stay away from tree wells.
Please learn about tree well safety:
Tree Well Suffocation Safety Information:
This latest tree well incident was reported to police as having occurred near Miller’s Ridge Forest service road at about 5pm on Sunday. The police learned that a group of snowmobilers had traveled into the area to snowboard when on snowboarder went missing.
One snowmobilers noticed his friend was missing and hiked uphill and discovered the victim upside down in a tree well. The friend extracted the victim and the victim was unresponsive. CRP was initiated but the victim was not successfully revived.
Other tree well deaths this winter:
Skier Dies in Tree Well @ Whitefish, MT, Jan. 14th, 2014
Skier Dies in Tree Well @ Crystal Mountain, WA, Feb. 20th, 2014
“In January, a 63-year-old man West Vancouver man died after he fell into a tree well on Whistler Mountain.” – Whistlerquestion.com
