A Boston man was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to a Lewiston hospital Saturday after the snowmobile he was riding struck a tree on a section of trail between Rangeley and Eustis, according to the Maine Warden Service.

Jerome Gangitano, 50, of Boston, Massachusetts, was in stable condition with a head injury Saturday evening at Central Maine Medical Center, said Game Warden Scott Stevens.

Gangitano was riding with two friends and was the third snowmobiler in the group traveling west on a section of the state’s Interconnected Trail System 89 mid-day Saturday.

He failed to negotiate a turn and struck a tree, Stevens said. The cause of the accident was an inexperienced operator going too fast for trail conditions.

“The trails are only in fair condition because we haven’t had that much snow,” Stevens said. He also said that with the Snodeo snowmobile festival taking place in Rangeley over the weekend, heavy traffic on the trails contributed to them getting packed down and icy.

The warden service also responded to a snowmobile accident in Oxford County on Saturday in which one man was transported to a New Hampshire hospital for a possible leg injury.

Overall the number of accidents reported statewide this winter has been low, Stevens said.

“There hasn’t been that much activity given the number of sledders that have been in the area,” he said. “It’s been fairly safe and we haven’t had a lot of accidents.”

The Rangeley Fire Department and NorthStar Ambulance also responded to the Rangeley area accident.

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm

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