'Fate was on my side': Lacombe snowmobiler recounts his close call after hitting a wire strung across a river
It was a weekend in January 2015. Jody Blokland was snowmobiling on the Blindman River with his brother and their four kids.
“I had my son in front of me and we were just going down the river and usually when we got to a nice wide open spot I would let him run the throttle,” said Blokland.
“And we got to this wide open spot and I let him run the throttle and we were going down and all of a sudden I felt my helmet get ripped off me and I got pulled off the back of the sled,” he continued.
Blokland said that’s when they saw a wire that had been put up on the river.
“There was lots of things that fell in place that day, I think fate was on my side,” he said.
“Normally I sit up on one knee so I can look over my kids helmet so if that day I would have been sitting up on one knee that wire would have got me right across the neck and probably wouldn’t have been a good outcome.”
Memories that came flooding back after all this time when he heard a woman died after hitting a cable on that same river.
“We were just out trying to have some fun. We were on crown land, we weren’t trespassing, we were following all the rules and to have to come across something like that, like it could have been so tragic,” said Blokland.
RCMP said a 25-year-old woman from Bluffton, northwest of Red Deer, hit a long intertwined steel cable while snowmobiling on Saturday.
She was airlifted to hospital in Edmonton but died from her injuries.
“Officers are still determining the likely use for the steel cable as well as who placed it there,” an RCMP spokesperson told CTV News Edmonton in an email.
“The cable appears to have been at that location for some time and we do not feel that it was placed there with the intended purpose to cause injury to someone.”
The Alberta Snowmobile Association isn’t sure how to deal with this type of situation.
“As far as we know there isn’t legislation that permits this so this is new terrain for us,” said the association’s executive director Chris Brookes.
“We’ll continue to look towards the province to give us some guidance as to what regulations or legislation could be brought in.”
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Marek Tkach
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. tenants evicted for landlord's use after refusing large rent increase to take over neighbouring suite
Ashley Dickey and her mother rented part of the same Coquitlam duplex in three different decades under three different landlords.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
Expert warns of food consumption habits amid rising prices
A new survey by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab asked Canadians about their food consumption habits amid rising prices.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
Ex-tabloid publisher testifies he scooped up possibly damaging tales to shield his old friend Trump
As Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, his old friend at the National Enquirer was scooping up potentially damaging stories about the candidate and paying out tens of thousands of dollars to keep them from the public eye.
Here's why provinces aren't following Saskatchewan's lead on the carbon tax home heating fight
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would still send Canada Carbon Rebate cheques to Saskatchewan residents, despite Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's decision to stop collecting the carbon tax on natural gas or home heating, questions were raised about whether other provinces would follow suit. CTV News reached out across the country and here's what we found out.
Montreal actress calls Weinstein ruling 'discouraging' but not surprising
A Montreal actress, who has previously detailed incidents she had with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, says a New York Court of Appeals decision overturning his 2020 rape conviction is 'discouraging' but not surprising.
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye make it four NFL drafts with quarterbacks going 1-3
Caleb Williams is heading to the Windy City, aiming to become the franchise quarterback Chicago has sought for decades.