Man Injured in Lake Snowmobile Accident
Freedom—March 3, 2021—A single-party snowmobile accident near Pauli Point on Ossipee Lake seriously injured a Windham, N.H., man on Saturday afternoon.
New Hampshire Fish & Game said 48-year-old Christopher Baddeley suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries after he struck a large snow-covered rock and was ejected from his machine and thrown approximately 75 feet.
Conservation officers and members of the Freedom Fire Department responded and removed the injured man from the lake using the town's 'Snowbulence,' according to Freedom Fire Chief Rob Cunio. The Snowbulence is an emergency medical transporter that provides access to areas that can't be reached by conventional wheeled vehicles. From the Snowbulence, Baddeley was taken by ambulance to Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro.
The Fish & Game accident report states that speed and riding conditions appeared to be contributing factors in the incident.
Freedom's Snowbulence was donated to the town in 2009 in memory of 36-year-old Chris Haynes, a Byfield, MA, snowmobiler who died after being thrown from his machine in a Berry Bay accident. After realizing how difficult it was to get to get emergency personnel to the scene, Haynes' family mounted a fundraising campaign that resulted in the gift of the Snowbulence to the town.