FRISCO, Colo.—Doctors expect a Boulder man struck in the head by lightning during a hike near Leadville to recover fully.
Justin Egglestom, 28, and his girlfriend, Jamie Willett, were climbing to the summit of Mount Elbert on Sunday when a thunderstorm rolled in mid-afternoon.
The two ran for the tree line amid hail, rain and lightning.
“The next thing you know it felt like I got swept off my feet and I thought I was rolling down the mountain in water,” Egglestom said. “Then I woke up and I wasn’t going anywhere, I was just laying there.” Willett told him he was hit by lightning.
A doctor from Aspen hiking nearby and other hikers helped treat Egglestom and get him off the mountain.
Egglestom said his right side, left shoulder, neck and head all hurt.
“Yes, I’m super grateful that I’m alive,” Egglestom said from Saint Anthony’s Medical Center in Summit County.
Brandon Williams of the Lake Dillon Fire Department advised hikers to stay off high mountain peaks on summer afternoons. “You can set your watch to it. About 3 or 4 in the afternoon those thunderstorms roll in,” said Williams.
“I’ll definitely not be coming down any mountains at 3 o’clock,” Egglestom said.
