January 18, 2018 at 9:03 a.m.
Snowmobile accidents up in Iron County
Three accident fatalities there so far this year
As of Monday, so far this season Oneida and Vilas counties report some snowmobile accidents with no fatalities.
There have been several snowmobile-related incidents, whether violations or accidents, in Vilas County since the season began and Pat Schmidt, chief deputy for the Vilas County Sheriff's Office, said there have been four snowmobile accidents reported since Jan. 1 and no fatalities.
Oneida County sheriff Grady Hartman said in the past month, there's been one accident reported to his department.
"That had some injuries and was in Three Lakes," he said. "So far, we've been fortunate but we haven't had a ton of snow yet, either."
Hartman said he went for a ride on his personal snowmobile Sunday.
"The trails are pretty good so I think the traffic will increase," he said.
In Iron County, though, it's been a different story.
Safety a priority
Deputy Mike Randall, the recreation officer for the Iron County Sheriff's Office, said Monday since the county's trails opened, there have been seven snowmobile crashes reported to the sheriff's office, three of them resulting in fatalities.
On Jan. 5, Keith Grimm, 56, of Algona, Iowa, died from injuries sustained when the snowmobile he was operating hit a tree on a trail near Mercer.
A few days later, on Jan. 9, Russell, Schmidt, 62, of Herron, Ill., died when he failed to negotiate a curve with his machine.
His snowmobile left the trail and he was thrown from it.
Randall said Sunday morning at around 3 a.m., there was another fatality in Hurley.
Mark Ramuta, 59, of Menominee Falls, was alone and missed a corner on trail 77 in Hurley.
"He hit a fire hydrant that is on a road being constructed," Randall said.
He said the sheriff's office received the call of another accident Monday just before 3 a.m.
"That was a gentleman who was on trail 17 in the town of Olma," Randall said. "He was in a snowmobile party, left the trail and hit a tree."
As of Monday, Randall didn't have an update on the man's condition.
Going into last weekend, the Iron County Sheriff's Office had to deal with two separate snowmobile accidents Friday afternoon.
The first, on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage, was reported at 2:30 p.m. and involved two snowmobiles.
"They were from the same snowmobile party," Randall said. "Apparently, one had stopped on the trail for some reason and another guy a couple sleds behind him ran into him. They were both pretty critical."
Randall said one of the accident victims was airlifted out and transported to Wausau while the other was first transported by ambulance to Howard Young Medical Center and then airlifted to Wausau from there.
He said the Wisconsin State Patrol was called in to do a reconstruction of that accident.
The second snowmobile accident that afternoon, on trail 17 near Manitowish Road in Mercer, was reported just over two hours later.
"That gentleman left the trail and hit a tree," Randall said. "He survived but was airlifted to Wausau."
His condition was also not known as of Monday.
Over the weekend, two men were killed in a snowmobile accident near Phillips in Price County.
Randall wants people to be able to enjoy their snowmobiling but he also wants to make sure they're safe as they do it.
"I think the big thing is, speed typically is always a factor," he said. "People are driving really fast, faster than trail conditions will allow."
Because there isn't, at this point in the season, much snow in central and southern Wisconsin, Randall said, "we're having more snowmobile traffic this year."
Something else related to that is with the cold temperatures, the snow that does fall is very fine.
"We call it 'snow dust,'" Randall said. "It really hampers visibility as you're driving down the trail. Snow's getting kicked up in a fine powder and the trail base, since it's been cold, that snow's really not packing well and underneath, you get a lot of ice and slippery conditions."
He said faster snowmobiles, coupled with people up here for some vacation and who operate the machines at high speed when they might not normally operate them that way, are also contributing factors.
"To me, it seems a lot of people who are in crashes and end up as fatalities are men, you know 40 to 55 years old on average," Randall said. "For whatever reason, I think they're a little out of practice on their snowmobile. They come up to enjoy a weekend with the guys, may overindulge a little bit, probably drive like they did when they were younger and not have that reflex or capability to handle the machines at those higher speeds like they did when they were younger."
Being safe is a message Randall, along with other recreational officers, whether with a sheriff's department or an enforcement officer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, always imparts on people enjoying the snowmobiling.
"Safety should be the number one priority when you're riding," he said. "Have fun but ride within your limits. I tell people if you're going to enjoy the night life, do that after you park your snowmobile."
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected].
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