Caption
Close
The harrowing rescue of a snowmobiler in the Adirondacks late last week during which a State Police trooper himself fell through the ice highlights what has turned out to be a deadly month for snowmobilers.
Six men have died so far in February in New York after driving their snowmobiles over ice too thin to support them. The incidents occurred on Raquette Pond in the Adirondacks, Lake Champlain on the New York-Vermont border and Conesus Lake in the Finger Lakes region.
The Friday rescue involved a 61-year-old New Jersey man who was driving his snowmobile on the southern end of Long Lake in Hamilton County when he crashed through the ice. State Police Trooper Michael S. Kohan responded quickly to the scene, but fell in himself about 150 feet from shore while attempting to rescue the man, police said. Long Lake firefighters were able to pull out both men, who sustained minor injuries.
Officials have warned that, despite recent snowfalls, many lakes have not had enough cold days to develop ice thick enough for riding.
“There is more unsafe ice this winter,” Col. Andrew Jacob of the New York Forest Rangers, told The Associated Press. “In most places of the state we haven’t had the bitter cold, below-zero weather you need to get really thick ice.”
Conditions weakened further this past weekend as temperatures warmed into the low 50s.
In some of the cases it has taken days to find missing snowmobilers because lakes aren’t navigable in their partially-frozen states.
Dive teams from the New York state and Vermont state police units searched for about a week to locate two missing Vermont men who disappeared Feb. 9 while snowmobiling on the southernmost part of Lake Champlain in Putnam, Washington County.
The Livingston County Sheriff’s Office in the Finger Lakes region had to suspend its search for two snowmobilers last week as thin ice hampered the ability to search Conesus Lake for the men, who disappeared Feb. 11.
Livingston County Sheriff Thomas Dougherty said on the department’s Facebook page that the sheriff’s office will use a special sonar device after more ice melts and detailed the many local volunteer fire companies that are aiding the search, as well as local residents and business owners who were providing food to the emergency responders.
In another case, two Erie County brothers died after they were found Feb. 6 on Raquette Pond in Franklin County, two days after they disappeared.
One of the men’s daughters said the accident came as a shock because her father was always careful when approaching icy waters.
“We think they became disoriented because the weather was bad,” Linda Sattler, daughter of 67-year-old victim Stephen Sattler, told The Associated Press. “It was snowing and they apparently lost track of the trail that ran along the pond. When they realized where they were, it was too late.”
The recent deaths are in addition to other snowmobile accidents that have claimed the life of New York riders, sometimes from collisions with rocks, trees or other snowmobilers. Just north of the immediate Capital Region, two men died in separate incidents this winter season after striking rocks on Great Sacandaga Lake.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation put out an alert Feb. 7 after the Franklin County drownings, urging snowmobilers to stick to designated trails. The state said that ice thickness can vary on a single body of water, and that evidence of other snowmobile tracks should not be considered a green-light to drive across the surface.
The state also warned people last Friday of an avalanche risk in the High Peaks while skiing or snowshoeing. The risk is because of the sudden heavy snow the region received a week ago, followed by the warmer temperatures this past weekend which are forecast to continue into this week.
“Cutting across the lake isn’t worth it,” said Linda Sattler. “Take the extra time and go the long way around.”
Includes reporting by Mary Esch of The Associated Press; lstanforth@timesunion.com • 518-454-5697
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
