A 54-year-old man who was skiing with his son at died Saturday after he fell into a tree well. 聽
The son, realizing he was alone when he got to the bottom of the run, hiked up the mountain to look for his father, the . When he retraced the route, he found his father鈥檚 skis sticking out from the area of loose snow surrounding a tree’s trunk. 聽
This is the third such death at the Montana resort since 2010, when a German exchange student fell into one of the voids while skiing on a groomed run. The student鈥檚 family and their son’s host family earlier this month. In 2011, a snowboarder took a fatal fall into a tree well at the resort.
According to a snow safety organization, most tree-well fatalities happen when a rider . 聽聽
鈥淭he number one problem with a tree well hazard is that people just discount it,鈥 , ski patrol director at Crystal Mountain. 鈥淵ou think, 鈥極h, that鈥檚 funny. Someone upside down in a tree well with skis sticking out.鈥 But this is a serious situation.”聽