Trees are an important and integral part of the natural mountain environment. Thick stands of evergreen trees are common at ski resorts in the western U.S. and Canada, predominantly in the ungroomed areas.

Most of the documented cases of deep snow suffocation at ski areas involve people falling headfirst into a tree well.

IMPORTANT TREE WELL FACTS

Hazardous tree wells are generally found in ungroomed areas. You must also be careful next to trees on the edges of groomed trails.

Particularly hazardous trees are fir trees that have their lower branches touching the snow surface. The branches help form a canopy over the tree well and can support a lot of snow on top of them. This snow is often knocked off if a person falls through the branches into the tree well and results in a deeper burial in the tree well.

There is no easy way to identify if a particular tree has a dangerous tree well by sight. The branches often block visibility of the hole that may exist. Even very small trees can have deep tree wells and have resulted in burials. Many of the NARSID accidents have occurred around small or medium size trees.

Prevention of falling into a tree well is all-important because the odds of surviving deep snow immersion are low. Remember, in two experiments conducted in the U.S. and Canada in which volunteers were temporarily placed in a tree well, 90% COULD NOT rescue themselves.

For your safety, you should assume all trees have a hazardous tree well. Fortunately, the risk of falling into a tree well is completely avoidable.

Tree wells exist in deep snow areas and only around trees Ðin simple terms, a tree well is a hole in the deep snow, which is clearly marked by a tree. You can easily identify and avoid these areas.