The Harshest Winter Ride

By Shea Andersen, 2-27-06

After a while, you get inured to the news of death by snowmobile. In the wintry West, it's a tragically popular -- and predictable -- way to die.

But today, the sad news of a popular mayor of tiny Atomic City, Idaho: Forrest "Frosty" Hawley died when he hit another snowmobiler -- his wife, Gerry -- head-on. Read the news from the Associated Press here.

But unfortunately you don't have to go far to find other bad news about the fastest thing on snow. Every winter the stories roll in. Some seem like bitter twists of Social Darwinism, like when snowmobilers on hopped-up machines die in avalanches they triggered by "high-marking" steep snow-loaded slopes. That kind of news hits outdoors folks the way some people think about race-car driver deaths; well, they knew what they were getting into.

You won't gain many friends in the West by complaining about snowmobiles. It's a topic as divisive as any hot-button social issue out here. People love to love them, and others love even more to hate them. There are as many snowmobile clubs and safety classes as there are groups formed solely to fight their presence in cherished backcountry spots.

All this goes without even mentioning the long-standing debate over snowmobiles in Yellowstone National Park. I'll stick to the life-and-death business here. But for whatever reason, The New York Times has followed the recent changes to snowmobile access rules and its subsequent impact on surrounding communities. Here's today's article on that. If you want opinion with your news, read the yesterday's times.

Nonetheless, the combo of high speeds, fast frost, and too-human reflexes takes its toll every winter. Today you can read about a Mountain Home woman who died on a snowmobile in Yellowstone, if you need, care of KBCI Channel 2 in Boise.

In Utah, they're mourning the loss of a school teacher who died in another accident. Read the message board for KSL Channel 5 TV if you need a wake-up call into just how random and tragic these things sometimes seem.

I don't have the stats for Idaho snowmobile deaths just yet. In Wisconsin, they're fretting about 26 deaths already this year.

I've visited Alaska and Canada, where people more often refer to snowmobiles as "snow machines" and to a non-enthusiast, it seems more appropriate. In many of those places (and in many remote parts of the lower 48) snowmobiles are just that: a machine to get around on when nothing else will get you there.

When I wintered on a ranch in Montana, you seldom saw the suited-up bug-people that ride the things like winter motocross bikes. Instead, it was just the way to get around. I was too broke to have one, so when it snowed hard and I couldn't dig out my car, that was that.

I envied snowmachine owners then. Today, I just don't.

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/6599/C108/L108

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