Calif. man dead after falling into tree well

A 54-year-old man is dead after falling, inverted, into a tree well while skiing Saturday at Whitefish Mountain Resort.

According to Flathead County Undersheriff Dave Leib, the man was visiting from California with his son and the pair were skiing together. When the son arrived at the bottom of the ski run and his father failed to show up, he returned to the top and retraced their route.

The son eventually saw his father’s skis sticking out of a tree well.

Leib did not state whether the man died at the scene, nor did he indicate on which run the man and his son were skiing.

The man’s body will be transported to the Montana State Crime Lab for an autopsy to determine the cause of his death, which is under investigation by the U.S. Forest Service and the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office.

The death comes less than two weeks after a German family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Flathead District Court and U.S. District Court in Missoula alleging the resort was grossly negligent in its handling of tree wells and that the negligence directly resulted in the death of their son, Niclas Waschle.

Waschle also fell, inverted, into a tree well before dying three days later due to asphyxiation and suffocation as a result of the accident.

His parents’ lawsuit also names World Experiences — the company that operates the international student exchange program in which Waschle was participating at the time — and Fred and Lynne Vanhorn — his host family — as defendants.