I still don’t know exactly what happened. From the injuries, it sounds like something fell on him or charged into him, something too fast to be avoided. I don’t know if he was another victim of that 22 y/o mutton-head who was deliberately driving into snowmobiles involved in the big sledding event. A lot is not yet being said.
No. Not related. And I very much doubt there is any cover up going on here.
The drunken guy, 26-year-old Arnold Demoski was riding on a snowmobile (snow machine as they call it up there) when he deliberately (allegedly in a drunk blackout) hit two dog sled teams (not snowmobiles) on the Iditarod Dog Sled race route at the checkpoint village of Nulato early on Saturday morning, killing one dog and injuring several other. Demoski was arrested on Saturday afternoon after turning himself in.
Todd Palin was injured while riding on his snow machine Sunday night at the family’s cabin in Matanuska-Susitna, north of Wassila and it was reported that no other riders were involved. Snow machines can weigh 600 pounds and travel at 90 miles per hour or more. When they hit an unseen obstacle, say a large rock or tree stump, etc., they can flip over and onto the rider or throw them a great distance not unlike a motorcycle. Evidently Todd was wearing a helmet, something that may have been a life saver and has promoted for their use, but the accident occurred at around 8:00 PM so it may have been dark, perhaps not a good idea.
Matanuska-Susitna is approximately 300 miles from Nulato.
FWIW, snow machine accidents in Alaska are not uncommon. They are both a form of recreation and of day to day transportation for some during the winter.
http://www.adn.com/article/another-fatal-snowmachine-accident-7-season