Ohio man killed in Colorado snowmobiling accident

A 26-year-old man from Bowling Green, Ohio, died in the Colorado backcountry Friday in a snowmobiling accident, according the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.

The man was trapped under his snowmobile after it flipped over while he was riding up a steep incline, the sheriff's office explained in a press release. 

The sheriff's office was notified of the crash at about 11 a.m. Friday. It happened near the southern ridge of 10,654-foot Rabbit Ears Peak. That peak is located about 10 miles east-southeast of Steamboat Springs near the Continental Divide. 

Jackson County Search and Rescue personnel led a team of first responders into the field. 

The man was pronounced at the scene.  

A week before the accident, a U.S. Forest Service agency posted on social media that the grooming of snowmobile trails near Rabbit Ears Pass, located three miles south of the peak, would be indefinitely postponed due to significant snowfall expected in the following days. 

"Trails are expected to require an advanced level of riding," the agency stated in a social media post.

A friend of the victim witnessed the crash, according to a sheriff's office spokesperson.

"He did an excellent job of listening to and following directions from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office Dispatch," Kayla Rizor stated. "The friend remained calm and provided extremely beneficial information to help get responders to the victim."