Snowmobile

Winter X Games competitor Caleb Moore died Thursday morning in a Colorado hospital a week after his snowmobile crashed during an event. He was 25 years old.  Moore crashed last Thursday while attempting a backflip on a 70-foot ramp during a freestyle event. During his landing, the skis on his 450-pound snowmobile hit the snow, sending Moore flying over the handlebars. Moore landed face first onto the ground; then his snowmobile rolled over him. Moore walked off the course and went to a hospital to be treated for a concussion, but his condition quickly worsened.

About this time of year there are precious few hours of daylight in the small town of St. Mary's in faraway western Alaska, and so it was already dark and frigid by the time paramedics arrived at the wreckage of a Cessna 208 airplane outside town. What they found Friday night was tragic: The plane carrying 10 people had crashed on a snowy slope, killing the pilot and three passengers - one of them an infant. But rescuers say there could have been more casualties if it weren't for the courage of one survivor - the infant's mother - who climbed out of the wreckage and trudged through the dark and icy fog to find rescuers, who had set out from town into the wilderness to look for the crash.

Re "Admiring his view," editorial, Sept. 18 I applaud the federal judge's decision to curb snowmobiles in Yellowstone. I have seen guided snowmobile groups push animals off the road into ditches with five feet of snow. The animals use a lot of energy just to get back on the road to find food. I will give up riding in the park for the benefit of the animals. I have read many articles, pro and con, on allowing more snowmobiles in the park. I have yet to see an article extolling the virtues of the hundreds of snowmobile trails just outside the park, as in the town of West Yellowstone.

An Alaska father was watching his son drive around on a snowmobile when it happened, officials said: The boy was there, and then he wasn't.  Sjohn Brown, 9, of Fairbanks, disappeared Saturday afternoon and was presumed dead when he and his snowmobile fell into a crevasse some 200 feet deep. Officials said the accident happened about five miles northwest of the state's annual Arctic Man skiing and snowmobile event at Summit Lake. After the father saw Sjohn's snowmobile drive behind a small mound and not reappear, officials said, he went to investigate.

  So there you are, minding your own business, watching the snowmobile trick competition at the X Games. Jackson Strong is at the top of the course, but you are way off to the side. Nothing bad could happen. Then Strong attempts his trick and falls off the snowmobile. Unfortunately for you, the throttle is stuck open and the machine careens off course, right toward you. That happened Sunday night at the X Games Aspen. A young male fan was injured when he tried to get out of the way of the snowmobile.

In the wake of the death of Caleb Moore, the X Games will eliminate the snowmobile and Moto X best trick competitions from future events. The safety of snowmobiles came under scrutiny in January after the death of Moore from injuries he sustained when his 450-pound sled rolled over him after a backflip gone wrong. It was the first death in the 18-year history of the X Games. The X Games still plans to hold other snowmobile events at Winter X, along with motorcycle competitions at Summer X. ESPN, which televises the X Games, announced the cancellations in a statement Tuesday.

Six snowmobilers missing in the mountains during a blizzard were rescued after taking shelter in a cabin and eventually getting a call out on a cellphone when the storm eased up. No one was hurt, authorities said in Conejos. The group told rescuers they huddled around a gas grill in the cabin and dined on popcorn they found inside.

A snowmobiler was killed over the weekend in an avalanche he triggered by roaring up a mountainside in Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve, park officials said. Rescue crews found the body of Mark Slimmen on Sunday under nearly 7 feet of avalanche debris west of Denali's Broad Pass. Slimmen, 34, of Fairbanks, had been caught in the slide Saturday afternoon, park officials said.

The quiet man standing next to Sarah Palin is nothing like the other three campaign spouses caught in the whirlwind of the presidential race, and not just because he's a man. Todd Palin is a conservative, a moose hunter, an oil worker, a union man, a snowmobile racer, a hockey fan and a onetime backer of Alaskan independence. And in the frontier society of Alaska, his bona fides are not that unusual. He's a "true Alaskan," said Ben Harrell, owner of the Mocha Moose cafe here.

Cameron Kocher dreams of death and dinosaurs. In one dream, an old man dies, only to rise from his grave the next day to buy ice cream for Cameron. In another, two dinosaurs fight in a courtroom--a judge dinosaur in a tuxedo, and a lawyer dinosaur. If these dreams are somehow jarring, there is a reason. Cameron Kocher does not lead a normal life; he is charged with killing a 7-year-old girl. Cameron Kocher is 11 years old. Cameron was six weeks shy of his 10th birthday on March 6, 1989.

In the wake of the death of Caleb Moore, the X Games will eliminate the snowmobile and Moto X best trick competitions from future events. The safety of snowmobiles came under scrutiny in January after the death of Moore from injuries he sustained when his 450-pound sled rolled over him after a backflip gone wrong. It was the first death in the 18-year history of the X Games. The X Games still plans to hold other snowmobile events at Winter X, along with motorcycle competitions at Summer X. ESPN, which televises the X Games, announced the cancellations in a statement Tuesday.

On his Tuesday morning snowmobile ride along Maine's Sugarloaf Mountain, a man stumbled upon a teenager who had gone missing from a nearby ski resort and spent two nights huddling for warmth in a makeshift snow cave as rescuers scoured the area. Nicholas Joy, a 17-year-old high school senior from Medford, Mass., got separated from his father on the slopes of the Sugarloaf Mountain Resort on Sunday afternoon. The two rode the ski lift together and then took separate routes down the mountain, planning to meet up at the bottom, Sugarloaf spokesman Ethan Austin told the Los Angeles Times.

For nearly as long as snowmobiles have entered Yellowstone National Park, there have been complaints, with some groups citing air quality, intrusive noise and harassment of wildlife. New rules governing snowmobiles and snow coaches in the nation's oldest national park will be announced Friday -- the seventh effort at regulation since 1994.  With the new rules, park officials abandoned the longtime system of limiting the number of snow machines. Instead, they intend to manage "transportation events” -- counting groups of five to 10 snowmobiles traveling together as one event.

Winter X Games snowmobiler Caleb Moore, 25, died Thursday as a result of injuries suffered a week earlier in ESPN's popular action sports event in Aspen, Colo. Moore suffered internal bleeding around his heart and also a brain injury when his 450-pound vehicle failed to complete a flip off a 70-foot ramp and slammed atop his head and chest area. The death of the four-time X Games medalist was the first in the event's 17-year history. It brought an outpouring of condolences on Twitter from action-sports stars including Travis Pastrana, Jeremy "Twitch" Stenberg and Carey Hart.

Winter X Games competitor Caleb Moore died Thursday morning in a Colorado hospital a week after his snowmobile crashed during an event. He was 25 years old.  Moore crashed last Thursday while attempting a backflip on a 70-foot ramp during a freestyle event. During his landing, the skis on his 450-pound snowmobile hit the snow, sending Moore flying over the handlebars. Moore landed face first onto the ground; then his snowmobile rolled over him. Moore walked off the course and went to a hospital to be treated for a concussion, but his condition quickly worsened.

The snowmobile accident that has left Winter X Games competitor Caleb Moore near death in a Colorado hospital renews questions about the lines of risk that sport should cross. Moore, 25, remained in critical condition Tuesday in Grand Junction, Colo., after having failed to convert a flip off a 70-foot ramp with his 450-pound snowmobile in Aspen on Thursday. After completing five tricks, including a midair full-body stretch from the handlebars and a flip around his seat, Moore flew over the handlebars headfirst into the snow after the front skis of his snowmobile dug into a landing ramp.

An Alaska father was watching his son drive around on a snowmobile when it happened, officials said: The boy was there, and then he wasn't.  Sjohn Brown, 9, of Fairbanks, disappeared Saturday afternoon and was presumed dead when he and his snowmobile fell into a crevasse some 200 feet deep. Officials said the accident happened about five miles northwest of the state's annual Arctic Man skiing and snowmobile event at Summit Lake. After the father saw Sjohn's snowmobile drive behind a small mound and not reappear, officials said, he went to investigate.

A Swedish man escaped from a blaze at a hunting cabin in central Sweden but froze to death as he fled, naked, on a snowmobile, a newspaper reported Monday. The daily Aftonbladet said the man failed to save any of his clothes after the fire broke out Saturday night in the cabin at Klovsjo. He was found dead on his snowmobile Sunday afternoon about 2 1/2 miles from the burned-out cabin, with no apparent injuries from the fire.

  Snowmobiler Caleb Moore remains in critical condition in a Colorado hospital after his snowmobile crash Thursday at the Winter X Games in Aspen. The 25-year-old was performing a flip when he landed short and went over the handlebars. The snowmobile rolled over him. He walked off the course and went to the hospital, where he developed bleeding around his heart. On Sunday, members of his family said he had a secondary complication involving his brain, but did not give details.

  So there you are, minding your own business, watching the snowmobile trick competition at the X Games. Jackson Strong is at the top of the course, but you are way off to the side. Nothing bad could happen. Then Strong attempts his trick and falls off the snowmobile. Unfortunately for you, the throttle is stuck open and the machine careens off course, right toward you. That happened Sunday night at the X Games Aspen. A young male fan was injured when he tried to get out of the way of the snowmobile.