SHAPLEIGH – A 46-year-old Shapleigh man was hospitalized Sunday evening after injuring his leg in a snowmobile incident earlier Sunday.

Dan Sladers was taken to Goodale Regional Hospital for initial treatment, said Warden John Lonergan, who oversaw rescue efforts.

Lonergan said the rescue started shortly before 5 p.m. It took rescuers, EMTs, wardens and others about three hours to carry Sladers about a mile to a waiting ambulance.

“It was extremely tough going,” said Lonergan. “The snow was very deep, and we had to keep switching off on the rescue sled.”

He said another warden used a snowmobile to haul rescuers into the accident scene, a woods road running off Norton Ridge Road near the Spicer Pond Wildlife Management Area.

Lonergan said Sladers had gotten his snowmobile stuck Saturday in deep snow on the heavily rutted woods road. He returned Sunday with several friends. They managed to free the sled, but then as Sladers headed back out the sled sunk into another rut and rolled over onto his right leg.

“It wasn’t clear if it was his leg or hip that was injured,” Lonergan said, “but he didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries.”

“The Shapleigh firefighters, the EMTs, all of the rescuers did a great job,” Longergan said.