Lukas Oldenburg

LARIMER COUNTY – The Sheriff's Office says a skier buried by an avalanche was hospitalized Sunday.

The Larimer County Sheriff's Office and other organizations responded to an area known as the Hot Dog Bowl, southeast of Highway 14, around 2:30 p.m.

Before rescue crews arrived, the skier's friends were able to dig him out and resuscitate him. He was airlifted to Medical Center of the Rockies. His name and condition were not immediately released.

The following organizations responded: Larimer County Sheriff's Office Emergency Services, Larimer County Sheriff's Office Emergency Services, Larimer County Search and Rescue, Poudre Canyon Quick Response Team, Jackson County Ambulance and Air Life.

can we please be careful. It is obvious that the snowpack is shitty and we need to play it safe with all this snow. WTF were they thinking.

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Originally Posted by GoldenBear

can we please be careful. It is obvious that the snowpack is shitty and we need to play it safe with all this snow. WTF were they thinking.

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Luckily, they were thinking about avy safety/victim recovery - otherwise there would have most likely been a fatality. From Powderbuzz:

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Originally Posted by PowderBuzz

As many of you know there was a slide at Hotdog today. I just got off the phone with a friend who confirmed that it was his group who was hit by the slide. The group was traversing at treeline underneath the large open bowl that faces east (or northeast). The entire bowl slid from the ridge and was estimated to be three feet deep. One person was burried. He was found in a few minutes and was then dug out. He was not breathing and didn't have a pulse. He was revived with CPR and ultimately evacuated by helicopter and is still in the hospital.
This is all I know right now, I'm sure more info will become available in the coming days. I declined an offer to ski with these guys last night, so I'm feeling "it could have been me" right now.

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The victim is currently at Medical Center of the Rockies and is still on a ventilator, but is looking good (per a member of the party).

I hope you come out OK, Luke!

They made a bad decision going out yesterday but it looks like they were on the ball with recovery and CPR.

Scary stuff. Hope the guy is OK.

Cameron has a couple areas frequented by the Ft Collins crowd. I've seen a steep windloaded bowl gangbanged by 10 or 12 skiers on a day with considerable danger when we were just touring in the trees due to the danger.

Hot Dog bowl slides before anything else at Cameron. (Pintail gully might slide more.) Its a knob at the head of a wind tunnel valley that loads into a large terrain trap. The avalanche path runs several hundred feet into some old growth. The ski run is 6 turns tops. That thing always makes me think twice. BTW for all who think the Monkey bowls are always safe look at this from Saturday.
http://www.powderbuzz.com/forums/alb...php?pic_id=139

A good reminder that CPR and first aid is part of the backcountry safety toolchest for when everything else goes to hell for whatever reason...

Statistically, that guy's survival is an anomaly because of his burial depth.

Report is up on CAIC under Accidents.

Wow, lucky, glad that everyone is doing OK.

This also illustrates the importance of traveling in a group of at least 3. Since CPR isn't usually enough to actually restart a heart, it's important to have someone to go for help while the other can continue with the CPR.

Went up there today to check out the slide. Sorry no pics.

Sobering amount of snow in the depo zone. Especially for, as solyent green says, such a short run. My pit showed an 8" fist hardness slab on top of ~10" of sugar. Columns either failed immediately or with wrist taps.

Wind was howling today.

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Originally Posted by Ireallyliketoski

This also illustrates the importance of traveling in a group of at least 3. Since CPR isn't usually enough to actually restart a heart, it's important to have someone to go for help while the other can continue with the CPR.

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This is a very good point.

CPR doesn't restart the heart. CPR is to sustain the brain and recharge the heart while waiting for advanced measures (electrical defribrillation, pacing, various cardiac drugs, etc) to restore functional rhythm, pressure, and cardiac output. Suffice to say, CPR buys time.

If they truly come back to breathing on their own without an AED or ALS measures, what you may often see is just the act opening and maintaining the airway solving the problem. Also, less commonly, but more commonly than CPR leading to a save, rescue breathing will bring the person to a better state (the heart was still going even if imperceptible to the rescuer). This is a more commonly seen save with Triple-H Syndrome often seen in avalanche victims who are not breathing for reasons other than trauma.

Ultimately, this is all part of your CPR training as far as implementation. I agree, a group of three is a better idea, but please note that one-rescuer CPR sucks ass (so does 2 rescuer CPR, but it sucks less). I think that 3-4 is the perfect BC group size for many reasons.

A couple of thoughts...

1- I don't think that enough people who spend a fair bit of time in the bc have enough medical training. Everybody does their avie courses, but few do a wilderness first aid or WFR.

2- The CAIC report was kind of hard to understand (1st draft), but I got the idea that everyone was still skinning up, not skiing down. Anybody else get that idea?

I heard on the news he is still in unconscious.
good thing they had they're beacons and such.
could have been over right there.

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Originally Posted by goldenboy

A couple of thoughts...

1- I don't think that enough people who spend a fair bit of time in the bc have enough medical training. Everybody does their avie courses, but few do a wilderness first aid or WFR.

2- The CAIC report was kind of hard to understand (1st draft), but I got the idea that everyone was still skinning up, not skiing down. Anybody else get that idea?

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I agree 100%. IKAR recommends everyone have BLS training. I don't understand why Avi I courses don't have an extra day for CPR/WFA cert that already trained persons could opt out of.

2. I got that impression as well (that they were still ascending). I found it interesting that CAIC didn't give the burial depth.

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Originally Posted by 6.ways.till.sunday

could have been over right there.

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Depending how this turns out, that might have been Cheaper-Faster-Better. Hopefully he pulls through without becoming a veggie.

They were still skinning up. The burial depth was roughly two meters.

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Originally Posted by murph

They were still skinning up. The burial depth was roughly two meters.

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that's what the newspaper said for burial depth... do you have a more authoritative source?

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Originally Posted by goldenboy

I don't think that enough people who spend a fair bit of time in the bc have enough medical training. Everybody does their avie courses, but few do a wilderness first aid or WFR.

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Agreed. I had some training long ago, and it might come to me in a pinch, but certainly not on the tip of my tongue.

Sobering to see this so stinkin early. I hope he pulls through.

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Originally Posted by Summit

that's what the newspaper said for burial depth... do you have a more authoritative source?

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He heard it from me, and I was one of the two who dug him out. Bottom of his boots were roughly 5-6 ft down and he was buried upside down in a crouched position.


-L

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Originally Posted by Trackster366

He heard it from me, and I was one of the two who dug him out. Bottom of his boots were roughly 5-6 ft down and he was buried upside down in a crouched position.


-L

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L,

First, I really hope that your buddy pulls through.

Second, good job on your rescue and patient care. As I mentioned above, it is amazing that your buddy is alive. It greatly due to your rescue efforts.

Third, may I please ask you some questions? I completely understand if you don't want to answer some or all of these:

Was he breathing upon recover? Did he have a palpable pulse? Was there snow in the airway? Was there any trauma?
How long before ALS arrived?
What was the consistency of the debris you had to dig through?
Did you experience warning signs prior to the avalanche?
What equipment did you guys have?

Best Wishes

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Originally Posted by Summit

L,

Third, may I please ask you some questions? I completely understand if you don't want to answer some or all of these:

Was he breathing upon recover? No

Did he have a palpable pulse? No

Was there snow in the airway? No

Was there any trauma? No

How long before ALS arrived? maybe an hour - hour and a half

What was the consistency of the debris you had to dig through? Fairly fine, not set-up
Did you experience warning signs prior to the avalanche? No

What equipment did you guys have? Beacons, Probes, Shovels on everybody

Best Wishes,
-A

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Glad to answer any others...trying to keep the heresay minimized

L,

Thank you for answering my questions!

Did you feel your avi safety gear performed adequately?
What amount of medical training did your group members have?
What medical supplies did you carry? Did you feel it was adequate?
How and when was outside help summoned?

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Aside: This accident seems like a perfect example of why we've all been saying 1.8m in-shovel-handle-probes are not a suitable piece of avi safety gear. If these folks had been stuck with such a short probe, it would have been essentially useless.

Hey Trackster, good luck mang. You may not know Summit is in the "helping fallen comrades biz"*, hence his inquisitiveness; it's all honest curiosity.

(*or whatever his real title or job description is)

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Originally Posted by Summit

L,

Thank you for answering my questions!

Did you feel your avi safety gear performed adequately?

Certainly, we were on top of his position with a minute or two. The only difficult thing was how deep he was buried. closest we could get was 2.0M before we started digging/probing

What amount of medical training did your group members have?
I have had formal CPR training before. The other guy involved is a former ski patroller with previous EMT certification

What medical supplies did you carry? Did you feel it was adequate?
I don't know if we could have used any medical supplies, I only carry a small backpacker one. The most crucial things we had was a down sleeping bag and multiple handwarmers that we used to keep him warm. We had extra clothes and gloves as well. We used most of our extra clothes to stuff into the sleeping bag to pad him and keep him warm. The extra gloves helped because I managed to lose one of mine in the recovery process and got a pretty good case of bite on 3 of my fingers. The sleeping bag was absolutely key, why did he have it in his pack? who knows...but I would put money on the fact that that is the main reason why he's still alive.

How and when was outside help summoned?
After he was revived and in "stable" condition, we both moved him down the hill into the trees away from the slide area and out of the wind. Once I was confortable with our position, I stayed with the victim while the other guy skiied out. I wanted to keep busy while waiting for help, so I pulled the victim down as far down the trail until I was too tired. Once the other guy reached the parking lot, he got a volunteer to bring a tarp up from the back of my pickup, and he flagged down 2 cars who went to call boxes. Guy with the tarp met me about same time the helo was overhead and it wasn't too much longer until rescuers were on scene.

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Aside: This accident seems like a perfect example of why we've all been saying 1.8m in-shovel-handle-probes are not a suitable piece of avi safety gear. If these folks had been stuck with such a short probe, it would have been essentially useless.

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Hope thats clear enough for ya, been a long day.

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Originally Posted by Trackster366

Glad to answer any others...trying to keep the heresay minimized

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No more questions from me, and I know it's a PITA, but didja fill out one of these and send it in?

http://www.avalanche.org/~research/guidelines/
(Avalanche accident reporting form)

here is an article for anyone who hasn't read it yet, http://www.coloradoan.com/apps/pbcs....TOMERSERVICE02

edit: I didn't read this with all of Tracksters responses, so the article may be pointless.

Sadly I just read on Powderbuzz that Luke has passed away. My thougts are with everyone involved. Hang in there.

I just read the same thing too. RIP Luke.

RIP, indeed.

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Originally Posted by Summit

Suffice to say, CPR buys time.

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True. But not much time.

Our OEC instructor told us one story about a sidecountry burial near Donner Summit a few years back. A few Sugar Bowl patrollers made it to one victim; shortly thereafter, a similar number of bystanders dug out the other. Neither victim was breathing nor had a palpable pulse. The patrollers started CPR on their victim, but the bystanders were untrained and simply called for help. The CPR victim died; the one who received no CPR lived. Anectdotal, obviously, and not a controlled experiment. But perhaps illustrative nonetheless.

The statistics are sobering. I don't have my OEC text in front of me, but IIRC, starting CPR within 2 minutes, applying an AED within 4 minutes, and transferring to advanced life support within 6-8 minutes -- basically, optimal response anywhere outside a hospital -- yields a survival rate of 30-40%.

I think that the chances that a backcountry skier can get beyond the first link of that chain in the allotted time are essentially nonexistent. In a resort, you probably have an AED available and depending on the resort, you may have ALS available in the aid shack or a quick ambulance ride away, and I know of instances in which CPR has been successful. But I don't know similar anecdotes about backcountry CPR success.

Does anyone know of a backcountry avy victim who was revived using CPR and survived?

That is so sad. I'm really really sad for his loved ones and the rescuers who tried so hard.

Trackster, remember if you find yourself questioning your actions that there wasn't anything else to be done and to have accomplished what you did manage was only through amazing action.

May your friend RIP and find only deep turns on his eternal dawn patrol

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Originally Posted by alpinedad

True. But not much time.

Our OEC instructor told us one story about a sidecountry burial near Donner Summit a few years back. A few Sugar Bowl patrollers made it to one victim; shortly thereafter, a similar number of bystanders dug out the other. Neither victim was breathing nor had a palpable pulse. The patrollers started CPR on their victim, but the bystanders were untrained and simply called for help. The CPR victim died; the one who received no CPR lived. Anectdotal, obviously, and not a controlled experiment. But perhaps illustrative nonetheless.

The statistics are sobering. I don't have my OEC text in front of me, but IIRC, starting CPR within 2 minutes, applying an AED within 4 minutes, and transferring to advanced life support within 6-8 minutes -- basically, optimal response anywhere outside a hospital -- yields a survival rate of 30-40%.

I think that the chances that a backcountry skier can get beyond the first link of that chain in the allotted time are essentially nonexistent. In a resort, you probably have an AED available and depending on the resort, you may have ALS available in the aid shack or a quick ambulance ride away, and I know of instances in which CPR has been successful. But I don't know similar anecdotes about backcountry CPR success.

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Very true... a more correct statement would be: CPR buys time for a few patients if applied early enough.

AEDs are key in that they can actually fix a problem, but only work if there if the patient is if VF.

ALS can do more for that pulseless apneic person like defib PVT, apply other electrical majik, intubate, and use various cardiac drugs.

Ultimately, despite everyone doing everything right, pulseless apneic victims will always have poor survival percentages because it is always hard to restore life to the dead.

More from the Coloradoan on Luke
http://cmsimg.coloradoan.com/apps/pb...=1002&MaxW=290

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Originally Posted by Fort Collins Coloradoan

Lukas Oldenburg knew he took risks in life: He snowboarded in the remote Colorado backcountry, skydived, backpacked and climbed fourteeners.

He said it was the only way to face his fears and live life to the fullest.

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"There was a quote I read on a bathroom wall that I try to live by. It read: 'Everybody dies but not everybody really lives.' I think that applies to me," Oldenburg said in a 2002 interview with the Coloradoan. "I'll do a lot of crazy stuff even though there are large risks involved just to get more out of life."

Oldenburg, 31, died Monday from injuries suffered in a Dec. 2 avalanche near Hotdog Bowl above Zimmerman Lake, near Cameron Pass, about 66 miles west of Fort Collins.

It was at least the third avalanche Oldenburg had been in or near. He survived two previous slides near Loveland Pass and Berthoud Pass.

The Dec. 2 avalanche near Zimmerman buried Oldenburg in 3 feet of snow. His heart stopped beating and he wasn't breathing when two friends he was with dug him out.

They performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, restarted his heart, and he was eventually flown via helicopter to Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, where he had remained in a coma.

His family did not specify a cause of death but said they hoped people would remember him when they saw the landscapes he had designed during his eight years as a landscape architect at BHA Design in Fort Collins.

"He lived life to the fullest," his family said in his obituary.

The dozen employees at BHA Design on Monday planted a flowering crabapple tree at their office at 1603 Oakridge Drive in his memory.

Oldenburg was fresh out of North Dakota State University when BHA president Bruce Hendee hired him eight years ago.

"He cared deeply about his work and it showed in everything he did," Hendee said.

Oldenburg was a key member of the team that worked on the master plan for Poudre Valley Health System's Harmony campus, and most recently he worked to help finish Spring Canyon Park owned by the city of Fort Collins.

"One of his strengths is that he was very good in following through on the details," Hendee said. "He was interested in the environment and he cared deeply and passionately about the work he did.”

Hendee described Oldenburg as an adventurer. “We always looked forward to hearing his tales about what he was doing in the coming weekend.”

In addition to planting the tree, Hendee said Oldenburg’s co-workers will discuss as an office how best to honor his memory.

“We’re a very close-knit office, we only have 12 people and we all feel like family. We’ll talk about it as an office and think about how we may pay tribute to him.

“As a landscape architect, planting a flowering tree in his memory will certainly remind us every spring of him,” Hendee said Monday.

Monday afternoon, backcountry enthusiasts who had been praying for his recovery were expressing sadness at Oldenburg’s death, posting messages on the PowderBuzz.com forum.

“This is heartbreaking news. We didn’t know Luke, but it is always painful to lose a member of this tight-knit community, and we are grieving with you,” wrote one poster. “We wish all of Luke’s family and friends peace in this incredibly difficult time. May he be finding endless pow and beautiful turns on the other side ...”

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http://cmsimg.coloradoan.com/apps/pb...=1002&MaxW=290

Article

RIP Luke for sure. heard about the excellent rescue but didn't realize his current condition. a fist pump for you, Trackster.

:( Such sad news. R.I.P. Luke.

Did CAIC do a report of the other slides he was involved in?

I have been following the story on the news and in here...I am sorry to hear about Luke and want to send my best wishes to his family and friends!

What hits close to home for me is that BHA Design, his former employer is a landscape architecture firm where many of my classmates, including my girlfriend will be applying in the coming months. damn.

It's always a sad day when we lose one of our own. May his friends and family find peace in this life and may he find peace in the next.

RIP Luke!

Here's the link to the StarTribune article, Luke was born and raised here in MN. http://www.startribune.com/local/12360661.html

Jay

RIP Luke
everybody be safe out there its horrible when you hear of these terrible events

So Sad.

I hate the depth hoar early season pack we get around here. So tricky.