Accident kills local woman
by SEPP JANNOTTA - Ravalli Republic
Tragedy struck a snowmobiling party Sunday morning when a 34-year-old woman died after being thrown from the sled she was riding on Bitterroot National Forest lands in the Lake Como area, a Forest Service official said.
The unidentified woman, who was apparently from the Hamilton area, was bucked off when the sled that she was riding down a hill hit a swale, according to Nan Christianson, spokesperson with the Bitterroot National Forest.
Immediately following the accident, the woman was unconscious and then regained consciousness briefly, Christianson said.
A call went out to Ravalli County Search and Rescue as well as to Life Flight in Missoula, Christianson said, but fog had grounded helicopters there.
“Unfortunately, both of the options based out of Missoula could not fly because of the inversion down there,” Christianson said. “So the call went to R&R Helicopter out of Conner and, I don’t know how, but they were able to fly.”
The R&R Conner Aviation chopper airlifted the woman down to a staging area at Lake Como, where an ambulance was waiting. The woman was pronounced dead at the lake, Christianson said.
The woman had been snowmobiling with five other people, though the group’s exact location at the time of the accident was not clear, Christianson said.
While avalanches are well-known hazards for backcountry travelers, a slide did not appear to play any role in this incident, Christianson said.
“It looks like the victim was going down a hill and got thrown from the machine,” Christianson said.
The Bitterroot Valley was covered in fog Sunday, making for the kind of flat light conditions that often give skiers and snowmobilers trouble gauging terrain features and distances.
Ravalli County Sheriff and Coroner Chris Hoffman said he couldn’t speculate on what happened.
“I don’t know any details,” Hoffman said of the accident. “I do know that search and rescue was called and by the time they got out there they were cancelled.”
Hoffman said his office will be investigating the cause of death.
