tree 1 , rider 0

[steve from amherst]

Mansfield, Massachusetts Man Dies in a Snowmobile Crash

Pittsburg - At approximately 12:00 PM on Friday, January 28, 2022, Derric Harper, 36, of Mansfield, Massachusetts was operating a snowmobile south on the Corridor Trail 20 in Pittsburg. While descending a downhill, bumpy section of trail, Harper lost control of his snowmobile and struck a tree off the side of the trail. Harper was subsequently thrown from his machine and sustained significant injuries.

Harper had been riding with an additional snowmobiler, following him at the time of the crash. When his riding companion realized he was no longer behind him, he turned around and traveled back to find Harper lying off the trail beside his damaged snowmobile. A bystander who had come upon the crash assisted both Harper and his riding companion. An immediate call to 911 was made from the scene.

A response from Pittsburg Fire Department, Pittsburg Police Department, 45th Parallel EMS and Conservation Officers began. Pittsburg Fire Department transported first responders across approximately a mile of trail to the crash scene utilizing their rescue snowmobile. Harper was transported from the scene to an awaiting ambulance that then transported him to Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital. Despite the efforts of all involved, including hospital staff, Harper ultimately succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased at the hospital.

This crash is still under investigation, however Conservation Officers are considering inexperience to have been a primary factor in this crash.

[Ez ryder]

Sounds like Guy trying to keep pace when he was not experienced enough to do so . 

[awful knawful]

Happens fast. 

RIP

[The One]

Sad to hear , rip 

[XCR1250]

I have a Scanner on here all the time as I volunteer for search & Rescue, been a few sled accidents this season in this area including a couple days ago, 15 year old girl crashed, EMS on the scene said she was "unresponsive" haven't heard any more since.

[jtssrx]

That’s a terrible title to this post. I don’t think it’s funny to make fun of a person dying

[ckf]

There's lots of buzz on the local FB groups about limiting the power of rental sleds. In addition to this fatal accident, there have been numerous accidents this winter due to rider inexperience.

Does anyone even make ow HP fan cooled sled anymore? Back when we had a rental fleet in the early 2000s we had mostly 380 and 550 rentals. We did usually have a liquid 600 or two for our guides and occasional experienced riders.

[DriftBusta]

7 minutes ago, ckf said:

There's lots of buzz on the local FB groups about limiting the power of rental sleds. In addition to this fatal accident, there have been numerous accidents this winter due to rider inexperience.

Does anyone even make ow HP fan cooled sled anymore? Back when we had a rental fleet in the early 2000s we had mostly 380 and 550 rentals. We did usually have a liquid 600 or two for our guides and occasional experienced riders.

Can't tell you how many times I've heard this story, inexperienced snowmobiler crashes rental sled.  600 ACE's.  Putting a rookie on a modern 600 or 800 is a recipe for disaster imo.

[jdsky]

15 minutes ago, ckf said:

Does anyone even make ow HP fan cooled sled anymore? Back when we had a rental fleet in the early 2000s we had mostly 380 and 550 rentals. We did usually have a liquid 600 or two for our guides and occasional experienced riders.

I hear ya' but pretty much any sled these days can kill the rider if they are inexperienced.  Many rental fleets do use the 600 Ace and it's only 65HP but the sled will still do an easy 70MPH plus which is plenty fast enough if you run off the trail into the trees.

One fleet went from all 600 Ace machines to half and half with 650 Poo's as their main option.  Double the HP is not the best for match for inexperience.  We ride in rental country and see a ton of rentals on the trail so we see at least one mangled every season.  Last year it was a group pulling a guy out of the trees.  He was lucky and only broke his collar bone.

 

[800renegaderider]

Don’t ski-doo ace have learner keys that limit them to 40 or around there. Although even 40 is to fast for someone who never rode before.

[jdsky]

Yes, both 600 and 900 Ace have the ability to limit top speed to 40MPH with a programmed key but not sure many people would rent them if that's all they did. 

There was one week way back in 2000 where our Texas renter's sled puked and the only thing available as a replacement was a 550 Poo.  There was something wrong with that thing as it would only do 40MPH max with the flipper to the bar.  We took it back the same day as it was more fun to just sit it out than ride at that speed all day.

[ckf]

10 minutes ago, jdsky said:

I hear ya' but pretty much any sled these days can kill the rider if they are inexperienced.  Many rental fleets do use the 600 Ace and it's only 65HP but the sled will still do an easy 70MPH plus which is plenty fast enough if you run off the trail into the trees.

One fleet went from all 600 Ace machines to half and half with 650 Poo's as their main option.  Double the HP is not the best for match for inexperience.  We ride in rental country and see a ton of rentals on the trail so we see at least one mangled every season.  Last year it was a group pulling a guy out of the trees.  He was lucky and only broke his collar bone.

 

A year or two ago Polaris got a bunch of the rental business around here with some great deals on their 600 class liquids.

While the 380s and 550s that we used to rent were capable of speeds that an kill, there is a big difference in how much faster a 600 liquid can get to those faster speeds when compared to a 380 fan or 600ace. I also wonder how well some of these rental companies go over a snowmobile with the operator before sending them out?  We had very few accidents with our rentals. I think the most expensive repair in the 5 years that we did it was $700.  We always heard horror stories from the other rental companies in the area. Lots of totalled sleds and injured riders. We got out of the business after the insurance rates skyrocketed after an area rental company had a customer get killed on one of their sleds.

[ArcticCrusher]

36 minutes ago, DriftBusta said:

Can't tell you how many times I've heard this story, inexperienced snowmobiler crashes rental sled.  600 ACE's.  Putting a rookie on a modern 600 or 800 is a recipe for disaster imo.

I ordered a 600 ACE just for new riders.

[Highmark]

1 hour ago, XCR1250 said:

I have a Scanner on here all the time as I volunteer for search & Rescue, been a few sled accidents this season in this area including a couple days ago, 15 year old girl crashed, EMS on the scene said she was "unresponsive" haven't heard any more since.

Must have survived.

https://widnr.widen.net/s/w6vnfvjdkg/snow2022

Edited January 31, 2022 by Highmark

[DriftBusta]

9 minutes ago, ArcticCrusher said:

I ordered a 600 ACE just for new riders.

That programmable power delivery is a genius idea for new riders.  Mellow, much harder to get into trouble.  When my girls were little, I stuck a block on the handlebar that limited how far they could squeeze the throttle.  It was great, but lots of plugs got fouled lol

[smokin george]

The place we had our trailer at has rentals and there's been a ton of accidents on them. They give you a crash course lol at the beginning and it's definitely not enough. 

[XCR1250]

4 minutes ago, Highmark said:

Must have survived.

https://widnr.widen.net/s/w6vnfvjdkg/snow2022

 I hope so, will probably be in the paper this week.

[Ez ryder]

In mn you can't even drive a sled with out taking snomobile safety if you were born after like 1978 I think it is . 

But a lot if crashes are experienced riders who are not cought off guard.  We have all been there skipping the tops of moguls and you get that fucked up spaced one that tosses you a bit 98% of the time you are able to correct but it  sounds sort of like this guy was prob doing that and was tossed that 2,% 

[Mag6240]

Polaris has a limiter, simply disconnect the valve cable.  Buddy rode his '16 this weekend for the last day and a half without the valves operating, still managed 55mph on open areas, and really didn't hold us up at all on the twisty trails we rode.  That's about 300 miles in turd mode, but sometimes you need to just keep rolling on a backpack trip!

[Bontz]

6 minutes ago, Ez ryder said:

In mn you can't even drive a sled with out taking snomobile safety if you were born after like 1978 I think it is . 

But a lot if crashes are experienced riders who are not cought off guard.  We have all been there skipping the tops of moguls and you get that fucked up spaced one that tosses you a bit 98% of the time you are able to correct but it  sounds sort of like this guy was prob doing that and was tossed that 2,% 

Don't forget that MN also has a ... cough, cough ... speed limit of 50mph at all times.  Not that I'm saying 50mph can't kill a person, just saying there's so-called "safeguards" in place that still don't make a significant change when it comes to accidents/deaths.  Even in WI, most counties enforce a speed limit at night.

[Stephen Hawking]

26 minutes ago, Bontz said:

Don't forget that MN also has a ... cough, cough ... speed limit of 50mph at all times.  Not that I'm saying 50mph can't kill a person, just saying there's so-called "safeguards" in place that still don't make a significant change when it comes to accidents/deaths.  Even in WI, most counties enforce a speed limit at night.

NH has a 45mph limit.

[Frostynuts]

Our idiots up here mandate a 50 KPH speed limit on trails up here in Ontario Canada, for OFSC insurance reasons. 

What parents need is to teach is common sense, if you don,t have that, all the legislation in the world won,t protect the stupid, from being stupid.

If you don,t have self control, and discipline, no law is going to keep the stupid, from finding a way to hurt themselves. 

Smart sledders can safely drive a 200 HP machine on the trails, without getting hurt. Dumb folks can get hurt, or killed with 20. It ain,t the machine, it is the skill, or lack of it, of the driver. If you don,t know how to control the flipper, and the brake, them maybe sledding is the wrong sport. Maybe skydiving would be better for some.

Stupid has to hurt, or sometimes kill. Sometimes, you just have to let Darwin, do his thing. 

We have a gazillion laws and regulations already. Enough is enough. 

 

[Crnr2Crnr]

1 hour ago, ckf said:

There's lots of buzz on the local FB groups about limiting the power of rental sleds. In addition to this fatal accident, there have been numerous accidents this winter due to rider inexperience.

Does anyone even make ow HP fan cooled sled anymore? Back when we had a rental fleet in the early 2000s we had mostly 380 and 550 rentals. We did usually have a liquid 600 or two for our guides and occasional experienced riders.

Throttle limiting magic through the ECU.  ISOC does it for the lower levels of Snocross (kids, jr's, etc) so it's not like the old days of different throttle blocks and that nonsense.  Maybe @fortune46x can shed a little more light on the subject.

If you go to a go cart track, most all of them are limited.  

The biggest factor imo with sled related deaths on the trails is the mix of alcohol, speed and inexperience.  Not going to stop it unless you take riding bar to bar out of the equation, or add breathalyzers to them. 

 

 

[Ez ryder]

44 minutes ago, Bontz said:

Don't forget that MN also has a ... cough, cough ... speed limit of 50mph at all times.  Not that I'm saying 50mph can't kill a person, just saying there's so-called "safeguards" in place that still don't make a significant change when it comes to accidents/deaths.  Even in WI, most counties enforce a speed limit at night.

I have only been popped 1 time and that was metro on Tonka skipping under a channel . 

But I run sweep most if the time and have watched a few buds get speeds lol . Only know 1 who has gotten more than 2  in a yr . In mn on your 3rd you have to re-take snowmobile safety class and get your card signed by instructor lucky for my crew we have 2 instructors lol.  

[fortune46x]

1 hour ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

Throttle limiting magic through the ECU.  ISOC does it for the lower levels of Snocross (kids, jr's, etc) so it's not like the old days of different throttle blocks and that nonsense.  Maybe @fortune46x can shed a little more light on the subject.

If you go to a go cart track, most all of them are limited.  

The biggest factor imo with sled related deaths on the trails is the mix of alcohol, speed and inexperience.  Not going to stop it unless you take riding bar to bar out of the equation, or add breathalyzers to them. 

 

 

You can rpm limit on an ecu as well as lock the powervalves in so it doesn't get the power that it could have. pair that with a 50% throttle and you have a limited hp sled with less mph

The other thing to consider here is the booze factor. No matter what speed you have someone set to if they're pissed up they'll hit whatevers in the way. We had a 911 call this weekend due to a drunk 20 something that ran into a tree - not to mention they had to go off the trail , down a small hill to do it ...