Snowmobile/car crash sends Lakeville man to hospital

A car and snowmobile collided on the Gunflint Trail in Grand Marais on Saturday, January 5, sending the snowmobiler to a Duluth hospital via medical helicopter.

Niels Peter Hansen, 50, of Lakeville, Minn. was driving a 2015 Polaris snowmobile when he crossed at the intersection of the snowmobile trail and the Gunflint Trail in the Pincushion Mountain area.

A 2000 Ford Explorer traveling north, driven by David John Rohl, 41, of Grand Marais, struck him.  

The call reporting the crash went out just before 2 p.m. on Saturday. Cook County Sheriff’s deputies, Grand Marais Fire Department and First Responders, and Cook County Ambulance responded to transport the snowmobile driver to the hospital.

The initial report was that Hansen appeared to have suffered broken ribs. He was later transported to Duluth via Lifeflight.
Hansen told the Cook County Sheriff’s Office that the stop sign was not visible. No citations were issued.