Skiing can be an enthralling experience, but also a dangerous one if not done carefully. A video is going viral on social media showing how a snowboarder who got buried in a tree well on Mount Baker in the US was rescued. A tree well is the space around a tree in which less snow accumulates than in the rest of the area. It creates a void or area of loose snow below the tree, posing danger for people who fall into them. The video shows skier Francis Zuber snowboarding through thick blankets of snow. He passes between trees and falls in a tree well. As he notices a snowboard, he suspects a man’s presence, asks “You alright? You okay?” and starts frantically removing the snow. Watch the video here: (Warning: Distressing visuals) After a large amount of snow is removed, a man’s hand is seen and Zuber asks him if he is okay and can breathe. He reassures the man saying that he will get a shovel and rescue him. Carefully, he removes snow from his face and the man says he is good. Zuber gets his shovel and removes the load of snow over the man. “Tree well rescue in the Mt. Baker side country. I was skiing a zone with a partner when I passed by a snowboarder upside down and buried in a tree well. I only caught a glimpse of his board but it was enough to get my attention. The boarder was with a group of three other riders, all very experienced and carrying beacon, shovel, probe, and walkies,” Zuber wrote on the YouTube. The man who got buried under the snow, Ian Steger, recounted his experience to the Komo News television channel. Steger would frequently snowboard in the area and there are a lot of trees. He could not set himself free and his friends, who went ahead of him, could not connect with his radio signals. “What happened is when we went into the trees they were so narrow that we all found our own avenues and lanes. The one I chose happened to be the one that had a big tree well in it, a hole that I fell into,” said Steger. His attempts to move out of the tree well only worsened the situation. “I was gonna die on my own mountain in an area I’ve ridden hundreds of times,” he said.
