Tree Well Rescue, Inverted Entrapment - Teamwork in British Columbia's South Chilcotin Mountains

Point of clarification - This is real world stuff, raw and flawed. Everyone in this video is a recreational skier, an amateur in back country rescue. Even with a successful outcome, this rescue has mistakes and is not a representation of proper technique. The intent of this video is to demonstrate and educate people on the dangers of tree wells. NOT a demonstration on HOW to rescue someone from a tree well. If you choose to venture into the back country seek professional instruction and guidance. http://acmg.ca/ http://amga.com/
Every year I go "SnowCat" skiing in the back country of British Columbia with a group of 12 friends. It's a hunt for deep powder far from the controlled environment of a resort. You need to be familiar with and prepared for the dangers - primarily avalanche and "tree wells." Everyone is familiar with avalanches. In the back country, everyone wears a transceiver (a small device, strapped to your body that sends out a signal) in case there is a slide and someone gets buried. It's a terrifying thought and we all practice, in fact it's mandatory, how to rescue a team member/s if there is a burial. To be prepared, we ski with collapsible shovels and avalanche probes in our packs.
With a 15-20 foot snow pack in winter, a lesser known but of equal or greater danger are "tree wells" - a quicksand like funnel that forms from the far edge of tree branches, tapering down to the base of the trunk. Because the snow around the edge easily collapses, often one falls in... upside down. Once in, all sound is absorbed by the soft snow, screaming for help is useless and any movement draws you deeper down. Also, you are nearly invisible from searchers on the surface - they can't see or hear you and need to rely on the transceivers to locate you - all taking precious time. There can be a pocket of air (as in this case) but it's only a short matter of time before that is exhausted and the person dies of suffocation. I've been enjoying back country skiing in BC for nearly a decade and have never witnessed such a close call. We learned many valuable things from this experience that will serve us to be even safer next year. You too can watch and listen and learn what was done well and how our teamwork could be improved. Bottom line, we got the result we wanted. And there are several ways we learned that could have gotten that result quicker and with less stress and effort. Same is true for any business result you want. Invest in the development of your team and produce results quicker with less stress and effort.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• rescue
• tree well
• teamwork
• leadership
• back country dangers
• LEAD USA
• Rich Kuepper
• training and development
• corporate
• executive development

[wisskier]

Glad you guys had a positive outcome. BTW, I've embedded this video in post publishing 1/23/2012 around 8:05 am at the Wisconsin Skier the topic is on practice and preparation. No amount of practice and prep can perfectly prepare you for the first real world experience, that is why employers value experience more than education.

[LEADUSALLC]

@wisskier Thanks for elevating the discussion, thats what I hoped. Yes, one thing we all learned was we had spent lots of time practicing & discussing avalanche rescue, beacon locating etc. We were also informed & aware of the dangers of tree wells but it seemed & was treated in training as a secondary threat. I don't think any of us could hav imagined Lee's predicament & it was shocking to be faced with it. I wanted this video to show everyone how instantly helpless they can make you.

[skicrazy121]

@LEADUSALLC First of all, don't let the critics of this video get to you, they apparently missed the point. I found it to be very informative. And i'm glad it was a success. I wasn't aware of the dangers of tree wells until about 3 years ago. This is why I stay on groomed runs. One question though, I read that a person has about a 10% cance of surviving a tree well accident. Is this true, and if so , how can one have the best chance of surviving something like this? What suggestions do you have?

[LEADUSALLC]

@skicrazy121 I have no statistics on survival rates. I believe a lot has to do with how you go in & if youre injured in the process. I have read that more people die in wells then in avi's most years. Suggestions - 1st, awareness and not getting into a rescue situation. Always stay in pairs and in sight of ur buddy. Proper safety gear & practice with it. Call/whistle (a must have piece of gear) for help asap. Stay calm (easier said then done when ur buddies life is on the line).

[LEADUSALLC]

@skicrazy121 That's from my non-professional - but now experienced self. I'd like to hear input to this question from a certified expert/professional guide. Lee is a powerful, physically robust guy but was instantly rendered all but helpless. Without the buddy system he would have been lost. One called to others and it began a group effort. I also think redundancy is key. Plan on failure. We had 3 shovels, for whatever reason we had one to work with. If we only had 1...

[LEADUSALLC]

LivinBackCountry the point IS to show our mistakes. We learned tremendously from it and thought others could too. Most people dont realize how tricky & dangerous a tree well is. It was handled poorly but we did SAVE HIS LIFE. I've provided a window for the community to witness the bad & good & grow from it. I don't have a window into your perfectly executed life. Anyone can point out "what should have been done" those r good things to think about - the point. I do know Lee thinks it was perfect.

[gvan14]

Animals dont ski. 

[skicrazy121]

@ghettoraid I can answer those questions for you;

1) Because they DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO DELEGATE! A man's life was on the line-there's no time to be democratic.

2) They started digging as soon as they could. Some had past the skier and had to trek back to help.

3) Immediately go for the head!? Are you serious? His head was 5 to 6 ft.beneath the snow! Going for the head could have caused him more injury and he would've fell deeper into the well.

Tell us Mr. Expert, how would You have done it?

[bobpeters91649]

While there are obviously things about this rescue that could be improved, I think you all did a good job under the circumstances. LEAD, if you're the one with the POV camera, you did two things extremely well. First, you kept your partner in sight and knew he had fallen in in the first place. Second, you may have LITERALLY saved his life by telling him not to move. That helped keep more snow from cascading down in the hole and covering his mouth. Thanks for posting this.

[sharkkvantis]

step one: learn to take off your own skis

[LivinBackCountry]

@LeadHase upon arriving at the scene and seeing that his ski was preventing and further sinking, the shovel should have been deployed prior to removing the ski and digging immediately to the right of the skier should have commenced. the 2nd person on the scene would have removed the ski and held the buried victim in place. 3rd person on the scene would have deployed shovel and begun digging below the victim. 4th person clears snow from behind shoveler and the rest swap out shoveling.

[LeadHase]

@LivinBackCountry How should it have been handled?