Yellowknife (Dec 31/04) - A Yellowknife man is dead after a snowmobile crash about 40 kilometres north of the Vee Lake boat launch, Tuesday.

Scott Dowdall, 38, was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the Stanton Territorial Hospital by medevac at 3:50 p.m. Dec. 28.

The cause of death is still under investigation and alcohol is not considered to be a factor.

The victim was wearing a helmet at the time of the collision, said NWT chief coroner Percy Kinney.

"He apparently veered left and had a bit of a collision with another guy," said RCMP Const. Kerri Riehl.

Dowdall, who had been out for the afternoon with five friends, was familiar with the trails and had travelled them before.

Members of the party performed CPR on Dowdall while they awaited help, but close to an hour and a half passed before he arrived at the hospital.

Sketchy cell phone coverage in the area caused an initial delay.

One member of the party travelled for 30 minutes until he was close enough to the city to call for help, said Deputy Fire Chief Clem St. Croix.

"We got the call at 2:55 p.m. so our response from the Vee Lake boat launch would have been 15-20 minutes later," St. Croix said.

It took about another 25 minutes for the five-member fire department crew to get to the accident site via snowmobile, he said.

Paramedics towed a toboggan loaded with first aid gear.

An Air Tindi medevac plane was also called to the scene of the crash and transported the victim to Yellowknife airport. He was then taken by ambulance to hospital.

Two RCMP officers also went to the scene Tuesday, with forensics and general investigators returning to the site Wednesday, Riehl said.

"It was not difficult to access at all," Riehl said.

"We have the resources to be able to respond, but as it's out of the city's boundaries it's going to take longer to get there."