Russian snowmobiler wrecks in Beartooths
CODY (WNE) — A male visitor from Russia was airlifted to a Billings hospital after a snowmobile accident in the Beartooths on January 10 left him with severe injuries.
His condition is unknown at this time, said Monte McClain, Park County Sheriff’s Department communication specialist, on Tuesday.
Around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, the 40-year-old man was driving a snowmobile on US 212 in the area of the Top of the World Store. The snowmobile drifted off the roadway and came into contact with a guardrail on a bridge.
The rider was ejected over the guardrail and fell about 10-15 feet into a boulder-strewn creek bottom. While members of his party attended to him, another rider went for help at the Safety Shelter located at Island Lake Campground, a short distance away.
Several members of the Cody Country Snowmobile Association, Park County Search and Rescue and the Park County Snow Search Team were at the Safety Shelter on their lunch break from an annual avalanche safety class. Members of these groups quickly responded and accessed the injured man.
It was quickly determined that the man had suffered a severe lower tibia/fibula fracture of his right leg, a large contusion of his abdomen and significant facial trauma. While the driver was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, the impact with the boulders shattered the front of the helmet open. The man was prepared for transport using a full-body air mattress along with a spinal board and subsequently transported in a rescue sled back to the safety shelter.
He was then transported to the trauma center at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Billings.
This story was published on Jan. 14, 2026.