CONTACT:
Conservation Officer Levi Frye
603-788-4850
February 19, 2021
Colebrook, NH – On Thursday, February 18, 2021 at approximately 6:15 p.m., NH Fish and Game Conservation Officers were notified of a snowmobile crash on the rail trail in Colebrook, also known as Trail 3A, just before the Stewartstown town line.
Colebrook Police, Fire and Rescue, NH State Police, and the 45th Parallel Ambulance responded to the scene to assist the patient, identified as Robert Gilchrist, 58, of North Grafton, Massachusetts.
Gilchrist was transported from the scene to the 45th Parallel Ambulance, which subsequently transported him to Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital (UCVH) in Colebrook. Due to the severity of Gilchrist’s injuries, a call for a helicopter was placed to transport him to a trauma center.
The Healthnet 4 helicopter responded from UVM Medical Center in Burlington, VT and met the 45th Parallel Ambulance at the UCVH landing pad to transport Gilchrist to UVM Medical Center with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Upon interviewing Gilchrist and witnesses, Conservation Officers determined that Gilchrist was travelling in a group of three riders on the rail trail. Gilchrist failed to identify that he was coming up to a bridge crossing on the trail, which created a large hump on the normally flat terrain. He struck this hump and lost control of his machine, causing it to roll multiple times.
His riding companions did not see the crash occur, but came upon Gilchrist sitting up in the trail and rushed to his side. Members of Gilchrist’s riding party called 911 and an emergency response was initiated.
A subsequent investigation of the scene with the assistance of NH State Police corroborated what Gilchrist and witnesses told investigators.
NH Fish and Game would like to remind all snowmobile riders to be aware of potential hazards that can arise on the trail and to always operate more cautiously when it is dark out.