Vallejo snowboarder found dead at Tahoe ski resort

A search for a Vallejo man reported missing earlier this week ended in tragedy when the man was found dead at a Lake Tahoe ski resort, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.

Danieson Crowder, 40, had gone snowboarding by himself Monday. When no one heard from him, he was reported missing Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s office. Ski patrol for the Northstar California Ski Resort, where Crowder had gone snowboarding, began searching the resort area while Placer County Sheriff’s Tahoe Nordic Search & Rescue team began searching areas outside the resort.

We’re sad to report that Danieson Crowder, 40, of Vallejo was discovered deceased at @Northstar_CA. Crowder went snowboarding by himself on Monday. He was reported missing Wednesday. Northstar ski patrol found him in a tree well that same day. #SAR

— Placer Sheriff (@PlacerSheriff) March 16, 2019

The resort’s ski patrol found him dead in a tree well, an area of deep, loose snow around the trunk of a tree, that same Wednesday, according to the sheriff’s office.

Tree wells appear in areas such as the Sierra Nevada, where conifer trees are plentiful, especially after heavy snowfall, according to a report in the online magazine of the Wilderness Medical Society. Storms hit the Sierra mountain range with dozens of feet of snow this winter, bringing the statewide snowpack well above its historical average.