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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 2016)
18 Wednesday,February24,2016The Nugget Newspaper,Sisters,Oregon Tree wells pose a backcountry snow hazard By Craig F. Eisenbeis Correspondent Earlier this month, an incident in Central Oregon highlightedoneofthelesser- knownhazardsofsnowcoun- try travel: the danger posed bytreewells.Treewellsform aroundthebasesofevergreen treeswhenoverhanginglimbs interfere with the natural deposition of falling snow, andtheresultingcavitiescan bedeadly. Thismonth’saccidenthad ahappyending;but,accord- ingtotheDeschutesCounty Sheriff’s Search and Rescue (SAR) team that performed therescue,someofthecredit goestothetelemarkskierwho wasinvolvedbecausehewas well-equipped ... and lucky enough to have cell phone coverage where the accident occurred. However, the situ- ationmightnothavebecome quitesodireifhehadnotbeen travelingalone. Still,backcountrytravelers shouldnotrelysolelyonacell phone. SAR coordinator Lt. Bryan Husband commented ontheincident.“Hewasable togetouta911call,butsubse- quentattemptstocallhimand pinpointhislocationwerenot successful.”Infact,Husband said, “The initial cell phone coordinateswerenotaccurate. HewasonTumaloMountain, butthecoordinatesputhimon Mt.Bachelor.” Husband emphasized the seriousnessofthesituation. “He was well-equipped, but he’s in an upside down position and couldn’t unclip himselffromthosebindings. Hecalledinandsaidhewas in good condition, but he was upside down and cold. Conditions change rapidly. Cold weather also depletes yourbatteryreallyfast,which hindered our ability to com- municatewithhim.” Tree wells are a danger in the backcountry, but inci- dents can occur anywhere. OneSantiamPassskipatrol- ler recalls a similar incident whenaskierbecametrapped in a tree well only about 15 feet off a principal groomed skirun.“Hewasskiingalone and lucky that someone saw himgointothetreewell,”the rescuer said. “He was hung upsidedownbyhisskisand youcouldn’tseeorhearhim.” Inthiscase,arescuerhad togodowninsidethetreewell withthevictimtoreleasethe victim’s ski bindings, which held him in place. With the aid of another ski patroller, thevictimwasfinallypulled tosafety. In yet another incident, a skier plunged headfirst into a tree well, and no one saw the accident. That skier was trapped upside down, com- pletelyimmobilizedandhelp- less. Fortunately, the victim wasabletobreathebutwould probably have died of expo- surehadhenotbeenableto reachhiscellphoneandcall for help. As a result, help arrived;andthetrappedskier survived. Tree wells can resemble those quicksand traps that sometimes show up in hor- rormovies.Theyformwhen the uniform blanket of fall- ingsnowisdisruptedbytree limbs. The resulting open space created under the tree limbs and around the tree trunk may partially fill with loose, unconsolidated snow. Like quicksand, these cavi- ties can swallow a person in an instant. Such an acci- dent can be compounded by snow adhering to overhang- inglimbs,whichwilloftenbe dislodged on impact, further buryingthevictim. Survival chances for a buried tree-well victim can be very poor. Termed Non- Avalanche Related Snow ImmersionDeaths(NARSID), suffocationcanoccurinmin- utes,especiallywhenaskier orsnowboarderentersatree wellhead-first. Such fatalities are not uncommon and typically occurinNorthAmericaeach year.Fourteenyearsagothis month, a Bend snowboarder disappearedonMt.Bachelor and, despite an extensive 10-day search, she was not found until weeks later, the victimofsuffocationinatree well. Eight years ago, a Mount Hoodsnowboardersuffocated inatreewellafterjust15min- utes,despitethefactthatthree other persons were on scene and attempting to extricate him. Five years ago, British Columbia ski patrol mem- berswereconductingatrain- ing exercise, when one of the patrol members suffered an unplanned, head-first fall intoatreewell;andthetrain- ingsessionturnedintoavery realrescuemissionwhichwas recordedonvideo. Even with multiple expe- rienced and well-trained ski patrolmembersimmediately photo by Craig f. eisenbeis Tree wells filled with soft, unconsolidated snow can pose deadly hazards; and loose snow on overhanging branches can compound the problem. on scene, several minutes werenecessarytofreethevic- tim,whosurvived.Typically, victimsarecompletelyimmo- bilizedintheloosesnow,and struggling only compounds theentrapment. Asthesnowpackdeepens over the winter, new-fallen snow can easily create and obscure potential tree-well traps.Thebestwaytoavoid thedangeristosteerclearof trees and other topographi- calfeatures,suchasrocksor creeks,wheresuchwellscould bepresent.Skipatrolofficials urge caution and warn that skiers and snowboarders in thebackcountryshouldcarry shovelsandnevertravelalone. Anotherwaytoavoidtree wells—oratleasttoreduce the chances of encountering them—istotravelinoneof ourmanyburned-overforests. Here,thedeadtreeshavebeen largely stripped of needles and limbs. As a result, the snowfallsinamoreuniform fashion that does not lend itselftotheformationoflarge tree wells and the resulting unconsolidated loose snow thatactsasatrap. Conversely, as dangerous astreewellscanbe,undercer- taincircumstances,thenatural snowcavitiescanalsobeused for shelter in an emergency. Very deep tree wells, with unconsolidatedsnow,should neverbeentered.However,if thesnowisfirmandthewell isnottoodeep,atreewellcan bethenucleusaroundwhich tobuildanemergencyshelter. When used together with asmallplastictarp,skisand treebranchescanbeutilized toformaroofforashelterthat can be quickly constructed overatreewell. The Ten Essentials and otheremergencysupplies— especially space blankets or bivvybags—shouldalways becarriedinthebackcountry. In the recent local case, a whistle — one of the Ten Essentials—wasinstrumen- tal in leading to a rescue. Husband said that the SAR teamwasabletozeroinonthe victimbyfollowingthesound ofhiswhistle.
