Norden, CA – A tree well — a depression caused in deep snow by the boughs of an evergreen tree — claimed the life of an employee at California’s Sugar Bowl ski resort last week.

Justin McCollum, 20, of Roseville, Calif., was snowboarding with friends in the double-diamond rated Strawberry Fields on March 19 when he became separated and the incident occurred. When McCollum didn’t show up at the bottom his friends first rode the run again to search for McCollum and found him in the tree well.  Ski patrol responded but McCollum was pronounced dead at the scene.

“An on-mountain fatality occurred today in the Crow’s Peak area of Sugar Bowl Resort.  Ski Patrol performed first aid and transported the individual to the base area, where a helicopter and paramedics were standing by to provide emergency transport to the hospital.  The snowboarder was pronounced dead before transport,” resort officials confirmed in a statement released by resort spokesperson John Monson. “Sugar Bowl Resort wishes to extend heartfelt thoughts and condolences.”

McCollum was one of three men to die skiing or snowboarding in California during a two-day storm period. A day earlier Kynan Stanners, 30, of Wishon, Calif., suffocated after falling face first while snowboarding in an open area at China Peak, and on the same day Yiwei Hu, 54, of Gold River, Calif., died after falling in a deep hole undermined by flowing water at Sierra-at-Tahoe Resort in the town of Twin Bridges.