GOVERNMENT CAMP, Ore. — A 42-year-old snowboarder died at Timberline Ski Area on Saturday, officials said.
The man was snowboarder with a friend in a treed area, according to a Facebook post from Timberline. He died in a tree well-related incident, Timberline said. A tree well is an area with loose snow around a tree trunk.
The man was found mid-morning by an unrelated third party, Timberline said. The man was unresponsive, and he had no pulse.
Life-saving efforts were not successful.
The man's name has not been released.
Jeff Kohnstamm, Timberline president and area operator, released the following statement:
"All of us at Timberline are heartbroken by the loss experienced at the Mountain today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friend and colleagues of a happy, energetic member of our mountain community. Please be aware of tree wells and other deep snow hazards and always ski with a buddy while keeping them in sight. I am especially thankful and proud of all the professional and volunteer ski patrol members who responded today. They are fantastic and we thank you."
John Burton, a spokesman with Timberline wouldn't talk about the tragedy over the weekend, but had these tips to help you out if you find yourself in trouble:
He says always ski with a buddy. "You always want to keep visual contact. Keep everybody in sight at all times."
If you do find yourself in a tree well, Burton says remain calm. "Don't panic, don't wiggle around. It's kind of like the quicksand theory, the more that you wiggle around the deeper that you fall into the well."
Next, make room for you to breath and clear the snow around your head if you can. He says then try to use the branches to help pull yourself out.
Burton says a tree well forms with "a lot of snow in a short amount of time, and think about evergreen trees, the branches coming down and not allowing snow to accumulate and consolidate around the trunk of the tree, but all the snow building up around the perimeter or the outline of the branches. So the snow builds up around the outside of the tree forming a deep well around the base. There's not really a visual cue, you can't really see it."
Pete Recksick is a teacher from The Dalles and enjoyed a day off from school on the mountain Monday. He's a fan of the fresh powder and enjoys snowboarding through the trees.
"Usually a lot more powder in there, however there's a danger when you get in there," he said.
Two weeks ago while up on Mount Hood, he found himself in trouble and stuck in a tree well. Luckily for him, it wasn't that bad.
"It's just hard to dig yourself out of there. When you put your hand into the snow it just goes in, really hard to work yourself out of that," Recksick said. "It's like swimming in quicksand, it just took a really long time to dig myself out of it."
According to the Northwest Avalanche Center, which tracks tree-well related deaths, there have been only five in the state of Oregon since 2001. The fifth being Saturday morning's tragedy at Timberline, but since Feb. 18 there have been four deaths in California, Washington and Oregon combined.
"Tree well hazards are at their peak when there's a lot of snow in a short amount of time." Burton says.