How to stay alive in deep powder snow: avoiding tree-well accidents.

Abstract

For skiers and snowboarders who seek out deep powder, the same snow that thrills can also kill. Experts who chart skiing injuries have documented a significant risk: suffocation after falling, often headfirst, into deep snow depressions around trees (tree wells) or even on open ground. Similar to avalanche-related deaths, most incidents have occurred at ski resorts in the western United States and Canada, though the same risk would be present wherever deep powder conditions are found.