Regarding Tree Rings of snow often snowboarders fall into these holes and cannot detach their boots from the snowboard or break a leg because of the small space falling down 5 to 10 feet into these tree ring snow holes by accident. It's less likely to do this with skis because they are longer for some reason but snow rings are often fatal for snow boarders. Also, what might be happening is snow boarders often go 40 to 60 miles per hour down slopes and if you hit a tree at that speed it will knock you out or just kill you outright and then you might fall down into this snow ring unconscious or dead. So, being careful when you are snowboarding and not thinking you are immortal because you are under 25 years old and a boy or man might also be useful. Anyone can be killed or injured skiing or snowboarding in all sorts of ways.
So, the story I like to tell is avalanches above Tree line on Mt. Shasta.
The snow in the 1980s that day it was spring skiing so I took off my shirt and jacket and tied it around my waist or put it in my backpack I carried while skiing on Mountaineering metal edged skis. So, I had sun glasses on and no shirt and a backpack and stuff tied to my waist. I was skiing around 10,000 feet towards Panther Meadows but above the elevation of Horse Camp so I was likely around 10,000 feet elevation skiing down at that point.
All of a sudden an acre of snow that was at least 10 feet deep or more took off in an avalanche down the mountain with me in the middle of it which was pretty terrifying trying to fight to stay on top of the snow when the happened because the snow was churning all around me. But, when you think you might die you can do all sorts of amazing things like I had to that day to survive this.
The first thing I had to worry about was to stay on top of the snow as the acre of snow moved at around 30 mph down the mountain. Because if my head went below the snow I was going to die and they would find me next summer when the snow melted some time. The 2nd thing I was worried about was this mass of snow was moving about 30 mph down the slopes and I didn't want to face plant into a tree because I had already lost about 2000 feet of altitude so we were about to hit the trees.
Luckily for me, the snow hit the trees and began to stop because the trees were blocking it's way so slowly I stopped along with the acre of snow. Luckily, I was only chest deep in the churned up snow from the Avalanche and so by fighting and kicking my skis and poles I was able to climb back up on top of the churned avalanche snow. So, basically I was in the snow bare chested which wasn't fun either trying to fight my way up out of the snow.
What was the lesson I learned (at least for me) that day?
Don't ski above Tree line, especially during Avalanche season which is often between February and May of any Given year depending upon when the snow falls and what kind of snow is falling in those storms.
So, at that point I gave up skiing above Tree line almost completely after this experience in the early 1980s when i was in my early 30s.
Snow is really great and skiing and snowboarding is really magical and fun!
But, you still have to find a way to survive it all somehow too!
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