WHITEFISH, Mon. — 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.