Grand Targhee, Wyoming. Matt Omann//Unsplash
A skier died after falling into a tree well at Grand Targhee Ski Resort in Wyoming over the weekend, reminding the ski community of the dangers of the hidden threat. The Teton County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as 67-year-old William Douglas England of Lakewood, Colorado. He was skiing with a partner in bounds on Saturday until the pair was separated somewhere between the top of a lift and one of the resort’s runs. England’s partner waited at the bottom of the run but when England still hadn’t arrived several minutes later, ski patrol was alerted.
Other skiers at the resort reportedly found England upside down in the tree well before ski patrol had arrived and attempted to dig him out. Ski patrol and EMTs then attempted to resuscitate England once they were able to pull him out of the well but he was never revived. No official cause of death had been announced by the Teton County Sheriff’s Office as of Tuesday but the assumption is that England died from asphyxiation between the time he fell into the well and when bystanders and ski patrol were finally able to dig him out.
“It’s not enough to ski with a partner,” Paul Baugher, a retired Pacific Northwest mountain guide told the Jackson Hole News and Guide. “You have to keep them in sight or maintain contact.” Baugher pointed out there are an average of 4.6 deaths caused by tree-well accidents at U.S. ski resorts each year. That’s a significantly larger threat than inbounds avalanches over the past 20 years, which cause an average of about one death per year, according to Baugher.
The National Ski Areas Association Tree Well and Deep Snow Safety Guide emphasizes the same simple advice for avoiding or escaping tree well hazards: keep your partner in sight
