A man pinned beneath a snowmobile near the summit of Cottonwood Pass died in the incident.
At about 11:10 a.m. Tuesday, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office received a “distress signal” from a backcountry traveler about a snowmobile accident and a man unconscious, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
County search and rescue personnel and EMS responded to the pass and contacted a group that had been snowmobiling in the area. Several people, before emergency responders arrived, had performed CPR on the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The victim was identified as 68-year-old Robert E. Weiland, of Jefferson, in Park County.
Weiland was snowmobiling with the group when he was found underneath the overturned machine by another rider, the release said.
“The other rider pulled the machine off of the victim and CPR was started until EMS arrived,” the sheriff’s office said. His body was taken off of the mountain and to the Chaffee County Coroner’s Office in Salida.
Updated 4:45 p.m. Feb. 15, 2022 This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Robert E. Weiland’s name. His name initially was misspelled due to incorrect information from the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office.
Updated Feb. 15, 2022 at 4:40 p.m. The following corrected information has been added to this article: Because of an error by a source, the spelling of Robert E. Weiland's name was initially misreported.
