Released by: Lt. Bryan Husband, Search and Rescue Coordinator
Release Date: March 2, 2018
Deceased: Alfonso Braun, 24 year old male, Bend, OR
NARRATIVE:
At approximately 12:00pm today, Deschutes County Sheriff‘s Office Search and Rescue personnel were dispatched to Mt. Bachelor for a report of a snowboarder found buried in the snow. Other skiers in the area began working to uncover the snowboarder, who was found to be unconscious and not breathing. Mt Bachelor Ski Patrol members arrived and began performing CPR while transporting the snowboarder to the West Village parking lot. The snowboarder, 24 year old Alfonso Braun of Bend, was pronounced deceased once being transferred into the care of awaiting emergency medical personnel.
Alfonso was found in the West Bowls, which is an expert-only area off of the Northwest chairlift. Weather at the time was reported to be mostly cloudy with light snow showers. Snow conditions at the time consisted of “unconsolidated powder”.
An investigation at the scene determined Braun had separated from his friends, snowboarding into a treed area. Braun snowboarded into a tree well, becoming buried in approximately six feet of snow, head first, where he was later found. Deschutes County Sheriff‘s Office Detectives with the assistance of the Medical Examiner’s Office are further investigating this accident.
http://www.nsaa.org/safety-programs/tree-well-deep-snow-safety/
https://www.deepsnowsafety.org/
