Several Injured in Weekend Snowmobile Accidents
Officials Recommend Riding on Trails and Not on Lakes
WMUR, Channel 9
January 10, 2010
In Vermont, three family members died after their snowmobiles broke through thin ice 100 yards from shore on Saturday.
In New Hampshire, crews in the northern part of the state responded to three snowmobile accidents Saturday.
Officials said a Sanbornton man riding with friends in the Nash Stream area struck a tree. In Jefferson, a woman's snowmobile rolled over as she was getting around a snow bank crossing. Also in Jefferson, two snowmobiles collided near Stag Hollow, which remains under investigation.
On Sunday afternoon, a 16-year-old from Whitefield was seriously injured in a crash in Lancaster. New Hampshire Fish and Game officials said Stockton Hicks was seriously injured after hitting a snow berm, the impact of which threw him from the snowmobile. He was taken to Weeks Hospital in Lancaster. The full extent of his injuries was not immediately known and an investigation continues.
New Hampshire Fish and Game authorities said safe ice is at least a foot thick, but the thickness of ice can change quickly and it could be too late by the time a rider realizes it.
"It has been cold. It has also been windy. So, the ice is not forming properly. So, the safest place to be snowmobiling is on our trails," Fish and Game Maj. Tim Acerno said.
Acerno said not everyone follows that advice. "It's difficult to try and guess. What is safe ice? We get a lot of calls from people asking how many inches should it be, how thick," he said.
Fish and Game officials said ice has to be a solid, blue ice, adding that a snowmobile rider could easily go from ice a foot thick to ice that's only an inch thick.
"What we recommend is check with local people, check local sporting good shops or bait shops. That's where the fishermen hang out -- they will talk about the conditions," Acerno said.
If there is open water, it is illegal to skim -- basically getting the snowmobile up to high rate of speed and trying to get from one side of the open water to the other -- which carries a hefty fine, and more importantly, if you fall in, hypothermia sets in really fast.
"Within less than a minute, you start to feel the effects. You start to feel the effects. The simple task of pulling your zipper up on your coat, you won't be to have the fine skills to do that," Acerno said.
Fish and Game officials said the water's current can affect the thickness of ice, and other factors can include a spring popping up from the water or the wind not allowing the ice to set.