Bill names tree wells as inherent risk of skiing

The Montana Legislature has passed a bill that defines tree wells as one of the inherent dangers of skiing.

Introduced by Republican Sen. Brian Hoven of Great Falls, the act amends a portion of state code regarding definitions related to skiing.

A section on the inherent dangers and risks of skiing has been amended to read “snow conditions as they exist or as they may change, including ice, hardpack, powder, packed powder, wind pack, corn snow, crust, slush, cut-up snow, and machine-made snow of any depth or accumulation, including but not limited to any depth or accumulation around or near trees or snowmaking equipment.”

The bill was approved by the Senate and House, and next goes to Gov. Steve Bullock.

Tree wells are an open pit at the base of a tree that grows deeper as the snowpack around the tree rises. Accidents often happen in tree wells when a skier or snowboarder falls head first into the pit or hits the tree and falls in.

Two tree-well fatalities occurred on the slopes at Whitefish Mountain Resort during the 2013-14 ski season. Previous tree-well deaths on Big Mountain occurred in 1978, 1979, 1990, 2010 and 2011.

The family of a 16-year-old foreign exchange student from Germany who died in 2010 after falling head first into a tree well at Whitefish Mountain Resort has sued the ski area.

The case goes to trial in November.