SCHOOLCRAFT COUNTY (WWJ) - A Lansing area woman is dead after authorities say she was ejected from her snowmobile after hitting a tree stump in the Upper Peninsula on Thursday afternoon.
Michigan State Police said troopers from the Manistique and Gladstone posts responded to the crash, which occurred around 2:45 p.m. on Jan. 26 on Trail 413 near Camp 7 Road in Schoolcraft County.
After an investigation, troopers determined 46-year-old Alain Davis, a Charlotte resident, was headed east on the trail when she came across a Y intersection. Davis was not able to navigate the curve and her snowmobile left the trail.
The machine struck multiple, small tree stumps poking out of the snow, causing her to be ejected from the snowmobile at a high rate of speed. Davis then struck a tree, troopers added.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to state police, Davis was with her husband, who was operating a separate snowmobile, at the time at the crash. Alcohol is not believed to have been a factor in the incident.
MSP urged snowmobile operators to use caution and drive safe after another crash in Schoolcraft County was reported earlier on the same day.
In that case, a male snowmobiler sustained a broken leg after he was traveling too fast for trail conditions and crashed, police added.
“The Michigan State Police encourages safe and prudent use of snowmobiles,” troopers said in a statement. “Please always ride within your limits."