Treewell camera footage

I don’t usually “reblog” things, but this is something interesting and related to the posts I’ve written about NARSID, or Treewell incidents.

A man on Mount Shasta Ski Park in California had a helmet camera running when he fell into a treewell and was trapped. He was snowboarding alone when it happened. He ended up being stuck, upside down, for almost an hour, unable to reach his cell phone and with nobody able to hear him calling out.

With the prevalence of helmet cams this was bound to happen sooner or later. We’ve seen POV footage of avalanches from similar cameras, and now one of this kind of accident – a little rarer but captured on film.

Video embedded below:

http://www.king5.com/v/?i=118837189

He ended up being able to answer his cell phone even though he couldn’t make a call, so after 20 minutes being stuck his wife called and started the rescue effort. It took approximately another 40 minutes to find him.

This could have ended tragically if the snow had been compacted around his head and prevented him from breathing.