TMZ reports, Ken Block dead after snowmobile accident

[SkiBum5.0]

Sounds like he was climbing near his ranch and the sled fell back on him and pinned him. To the sled guys, is this a common danger?

[spike98]

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Sounds like he was climbing near his ranch and the sled fell back on him and pinned him. To the sled guys, is this a common danger?

Heard different via tiktok (yea i know, its all hearsay). His last video was a kobota grooming a ramp then there are pictures of the sled from the news absolutely demolished from the front. Sounds like he undershot/overshot the landing of a jump.

[SkiBum5.0]

Could be absolutely true. My info sources are no better.

[arcticcat522]

The coming up short on a huge jump is far more plausible. But I suppose anything could have happened.

[finboy]

R/snowmobiling mod claims to have been riding with him that day and stressed the importance of radio contact. The sheriff’s office has stated he rolled the machine on him, unclear if he was just trapped in the snow or if the weight caused internal injuries.

[jampack]

RIP.

Checked his IG last night and it's really weird to see his story showing the amount of snow on the snowmobiles before the accident happened.

[BavarianBeast]

As somebody who doesn’t do much snowmobiling… If he was alone, looped out on a wheelie and the sled landed back on him, would it just suffocate him with a deep snowpack? Hard to get out from this situation without help?

[finboy]

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As somebody who doesn’t do much snowmobiling… If he was alone, looped out on a wheelie and the sled landed back on him, would it just suffocate him with a deep snowpack? Hard to get out from this situation without help?

From what I’ve read it was either:
1. Suffocated in snow
2. Crush related injuries from all that weight smashing down (tmz has “injuries” listed so this would be my guess)

I’m going to stick with my plan of learning to splitboard instead of a sled

[g-m]

I've very nearly had a sled land on me. I've run over myself as well on steep terrain. Definitely scary and the machines are heavy

[firebane]

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I've very nearly had a sled land on me. I've run over myself as well on steep terrain. Definitely scary and the machines are heavy

People don't understand the difference in lifting a sled when its on packed ground and lifting a sled in 4' of powder. You just don't get the same lifting ability.

[Darell_n]

He may have mousetrapped himself and the others near him couldn't reach him in time, a very real danger for all mountain riders. But if the sled was smashed up, probably not then.

[finboy]

Doesn’t sound like the crash footage was legit, thread here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/snowmobilin...ajv/ken_block/

[ZenOps]

Don't know, but it is always best that a man goes out doing what he loves.

RIP.

[Ekliptix]

Sledder here. What probably happened is what someone above said, he 'mousetrapped' himself. This is when the sled wheelies right over and traps the rider under the 500lb sled.
In the past this didn't happen as much because the sleds had less power and longer tunnels (the metal cave above the track that can act like a wheelie bar). Newer sleds have shorter tunnels so they wheelie over backwards easier. Plus, turbos have come stock on 2 stroke sleds for 2-3 years, making their power at the 180hp level. I have such a sled, myself.

I had a friend die 4-5 years ago by his sled landing on him and suffocating him. He was the most experienced rider I knew. He was on the cover of one of my snowmobile calendars for those who remember.
Last year, a friend of a friend's dad died getting mousetrapped on a new turbo sled.
Last year I had to help a friend who got mouse trapped right in front of me. He was panicking, couldn't breath and was helpless under the machine's weight. Even with a buddy helping me, it was still tough to roll the sled out of the ditch it'd trenched with our friend under.
This year, another friend got mousetrapped and needed help. He was also panicking.

Even with experience, these new sleds with extra big power and no 'wheelie bar' are prone to get riders into bad situations at the snap of a finger. My new sled is very spicy, for these reasons, and I'm trying to get up the learning curve on it, while always having 'eyes on me' of I'm going to be doing something that could put me under the sled/in a position that I need help. My spicy sled wheelying over and pinning me under is a real risk I'm trying to avoid and learn my machine to avoid it.

Avalanches have always been the #1 danger, but this type of accident is happening a lot more, lately.

[Thaco]

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Sledder here. What probably happened is what someone above said, he 'mousetrapped' himself. This is when the sled wheelies right over and traps the rider under the 500lb sled.
In the past this didn't happen as much because the sleds had less power and longer tunnels (the metal cave above the track that can act like a wheelie bar). Newer sleds have shorter tunnels so they wheelie over backwards easier. Plus, turbos have come stock on 2 stroke sleds for 2-3 years, making their power at the 180hp level. I have such a sled, myself.

I had a friend die 4-5 years ago by his sled landing on him and suffocating him. He was the most experienced rider I knew. He was on the cover of one of my snowmobile calendars for those who remember.
Last year, a friend of a friend's dad died getting mousetrapped on a new turbo sled.
Last year I had to help a friend who got mouse trapped right in front of me. He was panicking, couldn't breath and was helpless under the machine's weight. Even with a buddy helping me, it was still tough to roll the sled out of the ditch it'd trenched with our friend under.
This year, another friend got mousetrapped and needed help. He was also panicking.

Even with experience, these new sleds with extra big power and no 'wheelie bar' are prone to get riders into bad situations at the snap of a finger. My new sled is very spicy, for these reasons, and I'm trying to get up the learning curve on it, while always having 'eyes on me' of I'm going to be doing something that could put me under the sled/in a position that I need help. My spicy sled wheelying over and pinning me under is a real risk I'm trying to avoid and learn my machine to avoid it.

Avalanches have always been the #1 danger, but this type of accident is happening a lot more, lately.

I've found it interesting that given the dangers, they don't have some kind of rollover protection to prevent this, to me sleds would see them more in line with a SXS rather than a quad or dirtbike, given the terrain you could usually push a quad off yourself because it doesn't crush you in to the ground like a sled does in snow.

[Buster]

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Sledder here. What probably happened is what someone above said, he 'mousetrapped' himself. This is when the sled wheelies right over and traps the rider under the 500lb sled.
In the past this didn't happen as much because the sleds had less power and longer tunnels (the metal cave above the track that can act like a wheelie bar). Newer sleds have shorter tunnels so they wheelie over backwards easier. Plus, turbos have come stock on 2 stroke sleds for 2-3 years, making their power at the 180hp level. I have such a sled, myself.

I had a friend die 4-5 years ago by his sled landing on him and suffocating him. He was the most experienced rider I knew. He was on the cover of one of my snowmobile calendars for those who remember.
Last year, a friend of a friend's dad died getting mousetrapped on a new turbo sled.
Last year I had to help a friend who got mouse trapped right in front of me. He was panicking, couldn't breath and was helpless under the machine's weight. Even with a buddy helping me, it was still tough to roll the sled out of the ditch it'd trenched with our friend under.
This year, another friend got mousetrapped and needed help. He was also panicking.

Even with experience, these new sleds with extra big power and no 'wheelie bar' are prone to get riders into bad situations at the snap of a finger. My new sled is very spicy, for these reasons, and I'm trying to get up the learning curve on it, while always having 'eyes on me' of I'm going to be doing something that could put me under the sled/in a position that I need help. My spicy sled wheelying over and pinning me under is a real risk I'm trying to avoid and learn my machine to avoid it.

Avalanches have always been the #1 danger, but this type of accident is happening a lot more, lately.

to;dr

Sledding is for top Darwin Awards candidates.

[Ekliptix]

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I've found it interesting that given the dangers, they don't have some kind of rollover protection to prevent this, to me sleds would see them more in line with a SXS rather than a quad or dirtbike, given the terrain you could usually push a quad off yourself because it doesn't crush you in to the ground like a sled does in snow.

I’m my 25 yrs sledding experience, it has never happened to my riding buddies or I, until lately. It’s just a recent occurrence with the new machines willingness to wheelie right over backwards.

As far as sledding and the Darwin awards, there’s safe ways to do dangerous things. It’s my form of ‘play’.

[Brent.ff]

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to;dr

Sledding is for top Darwin Awards candidates.

Add high marking in avalanche country and it’s very true

[ercchry]

Sleds are the #1 thing that has kept me from playing in the backcountry (with any activity) in the winter… it’s not the “safe riders” …it’s the drunk idiot on top of the cornice that put all users at risk

[Ekliptix]

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Add high marking in avalanche country and it’s very true

I generally agree highmarking is very dangerous, and I don’t do it anymore because I’m smarter. But it depends on the snow conditions and snow pack, which most people don’t know/test. Learning to avoid being caught in an avalanche is the #1 tool to know in the backcountry sledding.