Snowmobile crash claims life of Portage woman
TOWNSHIP 13 RANGE 8, Maine — A woman from Portage Lake died Saturday afternoon in a snowmobile crash that authorities said was caused in part by excessive speed.
Denise Beaulieu, 50, was riding an Arctic Cat snowmobile on Carr Pond, west of Portage Lake, on Saturday during an outing with friends.
Around 3:45 p.m. Beaulieu left the lake via a trail leading to a parking lot and hit a snowbank, “at a high rate of speed,” said Cpl. John MacDonald, Maine Warden Service spokesman, in a press release.
Hitting the snowbank sent Beaulieu and the snowmobile flying into a patch of trees, and she was pronounced dead at the scene by Ashland Fire and Rescue, which assisted the warden service.
Beaulieu was wearing a helmet, and speed appears to have been “a contributing factor,” MacDonald said.
