Sad news from Mt. Rose

[Andy Mink]

I had heard about this but it just hit the news today. I knew of the death but not that it was a tree well incident. Please be careful out there.
Read it here

 

[Plai]

Really sad news. Was at Rose most of that day, Fri 12/27 and don't remember anything unusual happening. The snow was mostly chalky wind blown. Visibility was good, a bluebird windy day.

As I ski Rose's trees more now, I've been wondering about the tree wells. They certainly don't appear to be deep, and I do keep wide. That said, this article answers that question.

 

[Core2]

this really scares me. make a wrong turn and fall down a well and that is it. even if you are with other people, they might not see you. keeps me up at night thinking about it.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Stories like this really freak me out. The article really touched me. Was it his wife/girlfriend who was commenting that if he'd died in a fire that would have been it, no goodbyes.. She's grateful she got to say bye to him. I almost lost it when it said he teared up right beforehand.... such a tragedy!! My heart goes out to everyone involved!

 

[James]

Very sad.
What was this area like where he went into a tree well? He was alone?

 

[Andy Mink]

Very sad.
What was this area like where he went into a tree well? He was alone?

I don't know on what part of the mountain it happened. The trees in many areas there get tracked up pretty quickly after a storm then tend to set up. That doesn't negate the tree well concern but may lessen it somewhat. I am guessing he was alone since no one got to the bottom and reported him missing. There are only a few spots where you could see someone skiing in the trees from a lift.

 

[crgildart]

Reminder to have a whistle handy if you are skiing tree well terrain. Not always going to be able to breathe enough to use it but if you can, someone might hear it and come looking for you.

 

[AmyPJ]

What a sad story. A good reminder to talk to my daughter again about tree wells. My heart goes out to his family.

 

[scott43]

RIP.. For me, this is a cautionary tale..you know, if that dude can't self-extricate, what chance do I have? Just terrible situation to be in.

 

[Andy Mink]

RIP.. For me, this is a cautionary tale..you know, if that dude can't self-extricate, what chance do I have? Just terrible situation to be in.

That's what I was thinking. Not to be flip but I'd be doomed.

 

[Itinerant skier]

Sad. RIP and be careful folks!

 

[oldschoolskier]

@Tricia post a tread similar to this about tree well safety can it please be linked as a reminder. We all tend to think not me, lets not find it can be a me thing. RIP.

 

[Tricia]

Ironically, I was riding the chair with a @Rich Peters who had a "minor" treewell experience a month ago.
The irony is, it ended up being (sort of) minor because we were all there and saw it happen. But mostly, there was a girl on a snowboard who stopped above all of us while we were flagging her to say he just went into the tree well.
She dug like crazy to get his airway open and essentially saved his life.
Prior to this incident, Rich knew about tree wells and respected them but the conditions we were skiing a month ago weren't as such that you'd think something like this could happen, but it did.

Don't think...It can't happen to me. It can.

Then, wow, I read this quote from the SO in this article from Mt Rose and I'm in awe of the composure.

Because of Rivadeneyra's dangerous line of work, Mashal had prepared herself for a possible tragedy one day, but never thought it would happen like this.

"If he had passed in a fire, I wouldn't have gotten to say goodbye. I wouldn't have gotten to be with him until the very last minute, so for me, I'm grateful for that," she said.