I faintly remember hearing his name, was he a magazine writer and if so which magazines?
A good friend of mine from SO CA had a similar snow mobile accident in Montana years ago while doing a midnight full moon ride with a bunch of local riders that knew the trail, he ended up in a tree 50 ft. off the ground with the snowmobile stuck in the tree also
Luckily, with God's grace, he wasn't hurt badly, it did scare the hooty out of him. He said he got too close to the rider in front of him trying to pass at a sharp corner in the trail and off he went for a ride into the tree. They got him down that night with a rope and they went back the next day to retrieve the snow mobile, he never rode another one at night again