A man skiing at SilverStar Mountain Resort in British Columbia was rescued by his 16-year-old son on Monday, January 2nd, after falling head-first into a tree well. According to Hope Standard, the father and son, who declined to have their names published (the article refers to the father as John and the son as Calvin), were skiing on the Silver Woods side of the resort when the incident occurred.
“When you’re in that tree well and you’re breathing snow, it’s like you’re drowning in snow. It’s the strangest experience that you could ever try and put words to.” – John
Fortunately for the duo, Calvin had watched a TikTok video explaining how to rescue an individual from a tree well just three days before the accident. He knew to first dig out an airway and ensure his father was breathing, then help to remove his father from the well.
If anything, situations like this should act as a reminder of how important it is to ski with another person, especially in terrain you’re unfamiliar with and deep, dangerous snow. That’s exactly what the father/son duo took out of the experience.
“We ski as a group always but we’ve let our kids go off into trees and we stay on the run, and I don’t think I would ever do that again just because it can happen very quickly. I mean, it wouldn’t take 10 minutes of being in that situation panicking and you’re not coming out.” – John
Tree wells are incredibly scary, and it’s important that we know what to do if we’re ever in a similar experience to this one. While the specific TikTok Calvin watched isn’t known, here’s a little video from Whitewater Ski Resort detailing what to do if you see someone get caught in a tree well.
Image Credit: SilverStar Mountain Resort via Facebook