People after sledding accidents in the Yoop?

cuzzinolaf

Well-known member
I have seen a few accidents during my years of riding in the UP and often wondered what happened to those people after the fact.

There is one guy in particular that I often wonder about because I pass the area so often. It was in Feb. of 2008 just outside of Mass where the powerlines run next to the trail. He was riding a blue Yamaha SXR and missed a turn at high rate of speed, flew across a gully and ran right into the wall on the other side. He is the reason there is a turn arrow and caution netting in this area now. He had a bunch of buddies with him and was taken out by a rescue team and state police.

Anyone here know this guy?
 

Usd2bable2ride

New member
I was staying at the Bluffs Inn in Bessemer, Mi. in Jan. '03 and came into a turn strong on trail #2 about 3 blocks from the hotel, or at least I was told.
I hit the brake hard and started to fish tail, I was thrown from my sled and broke my back. I am now a paraplegic because of the accident and a sign that was never marked on the trail properly warning of the hard right turn!

I was taken off the trail by a rescue team and then life flighted to St. Marys Duluth Clinic in Duluth, Minnesota.

They were unsure I would make it through the next 12 hours. Obvisiouly did and I am still living my life strong!

Good thing I had union insurance and they covered all my costs.

I really do miss the sport and will eventually ride again I'm sure.
 

elf

Well-known member
It wasn't in the UP but we were in northern WI near Port Wing. Riding the trail that follows Hwy 13 and I happened to be following my wife at the time. The trail crossed a very deep gulley that wasn't marked and my wife hit it to hard, went off the trail and into the trees. The sled and her rolled/flipped several times and it all came to rest with the sled sitting on her chest, covering her head. I saw her helmet laying in the trees in the other direction and was scared to death to roll that sled off her. Luckily, her head was still there but she was out cold. Set a helicopter right down on the hwy for her and took her to St Lukes in Duluth. Luckily all she had was a partially collapsed lung and a concussion (and was very sore). Very scary moment for me, we had been married for about 2 months at the time.
 

cuzzinolaf

Well-known member
I was staying at the Bluffs Inn in Bessemer, Mi. in Jan. '03 and came into a turn strong on trail #2 about 3 blocks from the hotel, or at least I was told.
I hit the brake hard and started to fish tail, I was thrown from my sled and broke my back. I am now a paraplegic because of the accident and a sign that was never marked on the trail properly warning of the hard right turn!

I was taken off the trail by a rescue team and then life flighted to St. Marys Duluth Clinic in Duluth, Minnesota.

They were unsure I would make it through the next 12 hours. Obvisiouly did and I am still living my life strong!

Good thing I had union insurance and they covered all my costs.

I really do miss the sport and will eventually ride again I'm sure.

Wow, so sorry to hear about what happened but glad to see you're alive. One more reason to donate to the search and rescue efforts in the UP and other places.

I do believe if the curve was properly marked in the situation I mentioned that the guy wouldn't have wrecked... or at least as bad.

Hopefully you get to ride again and glad to see you still around on the site. I'm sure your story will make one person think and save them from some sort of accident. Thanks for posting it.
 

dab102999

New member
Elf is your wife still ridin?? My buddy wife had a close call last year by an idiot riding way above his level on way to big a sled. He totaled his sled and really tore the buddys wifes sled up too. Just pure luck that she reacted by pulling her leg in or I think it probably would have been torn off. Beside emotional pain she came out unscaved. But has not (and I don't think will ever) got on a sled since.
I have hit some things over the years, broke a couple of helmets, been knocked out cold, even tucked a ski under the sled doing pretty close to tripple digits (that was the knocked out cold_buddy said I went a good 50 yards thru the air before I even touched ground and then rolled for, well a long, long ways) Also I have watched many drunks leave the bar (that way I could go the other way) but take all that with a grain of salt...that is what snowmobiling is. I mean we are no longer on 250 c.c. machines that go 40 mph (and you though that was fast)
I know to each there own, and I respect her decision but I myself always have felt as long as I can ride I will.
 

scott_l

Member
I was staying at the Bluffs Inn in Bessemer, Mi. in Jan. '03 and came into a turn strong on trail #2 about 3 blocks from the hotel, or at least I was told.
I hit the brake hard and started to fish tail, I was thrown from my sled and broke my back. I am now a paraplegic because of the accident and a sign that was never marked on the trail properly warning of the hard right turn!

I was taken off the trail by a rescue team and then life flighted to St. Marys Duluth Clinic in Duluth, Minnesota.

They were unsure I would make it through the next 12 hours. Obviously did and I am still living my life strong!

Good thing I had union insurance and they covered all my costs.

I really do miss the sport and will eventually ride again I'm sure.


I am glad to hear you survived!

I am sure I will get bashed for this next comment but I have to say it..............It sounds to me that you are putting partial blame on the club for not putting a caution sign or arrow notifying you of the up coming turn. If that is the way you intended your statement I personally think you are wrong. Clubs can not possibly put a caution or arrow at every turn! We are all responsible for our own actions and that includes going into corners to fast! YES I have gone into corners to fast and I can recall a time I ended up in the trees. MY FAULT not the clubs.

Going back to the "why do we need clubs thread" 99% of clubs are volunteers, usally no one is paid for the time they put into the trail system.

Again I am glad you are still with us today, but I think you are wrong for putting blame on the club!
 

yamahauler

Active member
glad to hear those that had accidents are o.k. even though their lives have been changed forever.


I agree about the signage....it is not the clubs fault.

I am riding in MN for the first time since I lived hear and let me tell ya, there are a TON of places that are not marked well at all. It only took one of those for me to figure out and I slowed way down in areas that don't look right.

Good friend of mine lost his life in Feb 06 near Bayfield. Blew the corner on a logging road and hit a huge snow embankment left by dogsleds. Sled went airborne and came down on him. Was flown from the spot to Duluth where he passed just before getting there. It ripped his aorta.

Ride safe.
 
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fcat700

Member
We (my brother friends and I) were on a weekend trip in the Gogebic area in February 2007. The trails were in poor condition so the group decided to "bar hopping" on Saturday. After making all the stops on the lake we decided to head back to the cabin. The seven of us (some drunk) hit the lake heading south and when we got to the end of the lake at the county park I looked over my shoulder just in time to see my brother pile into the pier at about 40 mph. As I stopped I saw his helmet roll out on to the lake and know instantly that he was killed. I lost my brother and best friend, his wife lost her husband, his 5 and 7 year old boys lost their father, Mother and Father lost a son, my son and daughter lost a uncle and God Father and on and on. We all understand why it happened and learn the hardest of lessons but we still snowmobile and drink Coke when we stop for a rest. Looking forward to a "up north" ride this weekend with my Father and son. Ride safe.
 
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elf

Well-known member
Dab102999
Yep, my wife still rides. She didn't that year but she got back on the following year. We have changed our riding style though. We used to ride with bigger groups and we rode hard. I give my wife credit, she rode hard and kept up with the boys, much to their amazement. Now that we have kids, and take them with all the time, we ride a lot slower and it's just us usually. There'll be a couple times/yr that we have family or friends up riding with us but since I'm the only one who knows the back country up where we ride (MN north shore) I usually lead and set the pace. There'll be one or two rides per year that we don't have the kids with and we might crank it up some then but for the most part, we just do it as a family thing now.
 

yamalaris

New member
Seven or eight years ago on Super Bowl Sunday I decided to hit the trails for half a day of riding then go home to watch the game. As I was heading home I pegged the throttle in an open field with a mile long straight strech, in the middle there is a knoll that obstructs the view of oncoming traffic. As I crest this hill there were two guys racing each other coming straight at me and one was on my side of the trail speeds easily were 80+ miles per hour in both directions and we had fractions of a second to avoid a head on collision, the rider coming at me couldn't do anything but brake as he was directly along side the guy he was racing and there was a tree line to his left, fortunately guy to the outside split wide allowing for me to move left and ride in between them we were so close to a head on collision that my ski actually hit the other machines snow flap, the rider to the outside lost control and rolled his machine, after a moment of catching my breath and replaying what had just happened I turned around to make sure the guy was ok, his skidoo had caught on fire, we were able to throw some snow on it and keep it from burning up but it was a total loss. They seen how angry I was and aplogized, fortunately nobody was hurt but it was an expensive lesson for the other guys, my lesson learned was to always expect the unexpected. To this day as I ride over a blind hill on trails I get an uneasy feeling.
 
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olsmann

New member
We (my brother friends and I) were on a weekend trip in the Gogebic area in February 2007. The trails were in poor condition so the group decided to "bar hoop" on Saturday. After making all the stops on the lake we decided to head back to the cabin. The seven of us (some drunk) hit the lake heading south and when we got to the end of the lake at the county park I looked over my shoulder just in time to see my brother pile into the pier at about 40 mph. As I stopped I saw his helmet roll out on to the lake and know instantly that he was killed. I lost my brother and best friend, his wife lost her husband, his 5 and 7 year old boys lost their father, Mother and Father lost a son, my son and daughter lost a uncle and God Father and on and on. We all understand why it happened and learn the hardest of lessons but we still snowmobile and drink Coke when we stop for a rest. Looking forward to a "up north" ride this weekend with my Father and son. Ride safe.


You have told this story a few times here on JD (thats a good thing) It really has stuck with me the last couple of years. I cant even imagine what it would be like to go thru that. We never drink and ride. For some reason when i have ever thought of having one on a ride, i always think of your story. Once again, Sorry for the loss of your brother. Im glad you still snowmobile. Im betting he would have wanted it that way.
 

peppermill

New member
In response to Cuzzinolaf Darrell helped that bunch of guys after the accident. I can't remember how many were in the group but they were business guys on a trip. The last we knew he was in the hospital I believe in Wausau WI (don't quote me for sure on that). His buddies did keep in touch with us for a couple days and the guy was pretty beat up. They had inquired about fencing and signs at the time and we notified the Snowmobile Club about it and they did put up the fencing and signs. The last we heard from them they had sent us a big box of Steaks from I belive it was Omaha Steak Co. as an appreciation for helping them and their buddy. They wanted to pay Darrell but he wouldn't take anything and then about a week later we got the Steaks in the mail. So don't know what the end result was but he was pretty beat up. We had told them to let us know how he did but never heard any more.
 

timo

Well-known member
We (my brother friends and I) were on a weekend trip in the Gogebic area in February 2007. The trails were in poor condition so the group decided to "bar hopping" on Saturday. After making all the stops on the lake we decided to head back to the cabin. The seven of us (some drunk) hit the lake heading south and when we got to the end of the lake at the county park I looked over my shoulder just in time to see my brother pile into the pier at about 40 mph. As I stopped I saw his helmet roll out on to the lake and know instantly that he was killed. I lost my brother and best friend, his wife lost her husband, his 5 and 7 year old boys lost their father, Mother and Father lost a son, my son and daughter lost a uncle and God Father and on and on. We all understand why it happened and learn the hardest of lessons but we still snowmobile and drink Coke when we stop for a rest. Looking forward to a "up north" ride this weekend with my Father and son. Ride safe.

i too have read your story before fcat. my condolences to you and your bro's family. I can't even imagine what that ride was like home to have to tell your sister in law and the children. Good god that must of been difficult.
 

fcat700

Member
i too have read your story before fcat. my condolences to you and your bro's family. I can't even imagine what that ride was like home to have to tell your sister in law and the children. Good god that must of been difficult.

You have told this story a few times here on JD (thats a good thing) It really has stuck with me the last couple of years. I cant even imagine what it would be like to go thru that. We never drink and ride. For some reason when i have ever thought of having one on a ride, i always think of your story. Once again, Sorry for the loss of your brother. Im glad you still snowmobile. Im betting he would have wanted it that way.

Thanks olsmann-I'm glad my story has helped you stay strong at the bar. Hopefully stories such as mine and Usd2bable2ride's will help some others as well and yes, Lance would want us to ride FOR SURE.

Thanks timo-made the calls from the cabin as I felt like family would want to hear it ASAP and from me not a Police Officer or other but it was a miserable ride home as we had rode up together and now he wasn't coming home, felt like we just left him there.
 

dekx

New member
Snowmobile death in Ontonagon today

My group rolled by a two snowmobile accident today along the highway with two sleds upon a fence. As we stopped to see if the group needed anything, one gentleman told us someone had gotten killed. Our group mood changed for the rest of the day. The families are in my thoughts and please ride safe....
 
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L

lenny

Guest
wow, sure is an eye opener, this is an important thread, I hope all read it
 

favoritos

Well-known member
It is a tough read sometimes when we hear these stories.

The reality is a lot worse.

fcat700, I offer my best wishes. That ride home would have been a tough one.
 

zr500rider

New member
In 2003 three of us were in Grayling for a weedend ride. Got out on trails abt 8:30 rode straight to Frederic. Stopped at Sleadheads to see Pete for abt 20 minutes and headed out agn. north toward starvation lake on the Blue Bear trail. We didn't go 3-4 miles when we entered a sharp left corner. Corners were icy as it was just after the typical Jan. thaw so we were being extremely carefull and slow in corners, would actually almost stop in some of them as it was solid clear clean ice. Anyway we were doing abt 10-15mph into this corner when 3 guys came into it going opposite direction and hauling ***. First two guys no problem 3rd guy came into corner with skis cranked as hard as they would go but he was heading straight at us! Luckily myself and guy behind me got stopped before we hit ice but buddy up front took a T-bone. He pulled his leg up so as not to get hit with ski and got ejected from his sled (a little sore from landing on his back...big guy!!) but ok. First thing out of other guys mouth is "My wife is going to kill me! I just picked this sled up this morning and only have 12 miles on it!" Then look at buddy and asks if he's ok!!! Dealer lets new rider go out with no carbides...hard bars and no studs trying to keep up with his buddies. NOT putting any blame on dealer....but should've pushed him to at least put carbides on it first. Any way LOTS of duct tape and zip ties to my buddies sled saved the weekend and nobody got hurt bad so all turn out ok. However at that moment the lead job got turned over to me and he will not ride up front anymore at all anywhere!
 
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