Canadian man dies after falling into tree well when skiing in Montana

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Canada\'s Edi Podivinsky attacks the course during the men\'s Super G in Snowbasin, Utah Saturday, Feb. 16, 2002 at the Salt Lake City Olympics. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Susan Walsh

WHITEFISH, Mont. – An Alberta man died in a weekend skiing accident at Whitefish Mountain Resort in northwestern Montana.

The Flathead County sheriff’s office says 48-year-old Thomas Podivinsky of Calgary died after falling into a tree well.

Officials say Podivinsky was skiing with a friend when they became separated at about 12:30 p.m. Sunday. When he failed to meet up with a group of people as planned, he was reported missing at about 1 p.m.

Ski patrollers found Podivinsky upside-down in a tree well and were unable to resuscitate him. A tree well is a hole in the snow that forms around the base of a tree.

Podivinsky is the second man to die in a tree well at the resort this year. A 53-year-old California man died on Jan. 11.

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