Neighbors and friends were trooping to the Lundstedt home in Fort Collins with offerings of food Tuesday as the good news/bad news spread that one Lundstedt son had survived an avalanche and two nights in a snow cave while his brother had died in the slide.
Tyler Lundstedt, 24, of Fort Collins died late Saturday when he was buried in one of many avalanches in a steep drainage southwest of Walden. He and his brother Jordan, 21, had been separated from a large group of snowmobilers and had gotten their snow machines stuck. They were walking when they triggered a slide in an area known as the Chedsay drainage near Buffalo Pass. The area has extremely steep terrain and was covered in about 4 feet of new powder.
Jordan Lundstedt managed to “swim” in the roaring snow and stay close enough to the top that he could dig himself out. He found his brother through a beacon signal and dug down to him through what he told rescuers was “a great distance.” But his brother had already died.
Jordan Lundstedt built a snow cave and survived by wrapping himself in a rescue blanket until late Monday afternoon, when his father found him. He had a cellphone and made contact with rescuers at one point. He had lost everything else in the avalanche.
More than three dozen searchers from three counties and two helicopters — one private and one from the Colorado Army National Guard — helped in the search. The searchers were nearby when Lundstedt’s father found him.
Mark White, an information officer with the Jackson County Search and Rescue team, said the area was so dangerous and the snow so deep that it took almost two hours to get Lundstedt to waiting rescuers at a command center. Rescuers used snowshoes, skis, a sled that could be towed and, eventually, snow machines.
Jordan Lundstedt was ambulatory when he was found, White said, but he was airlifted to Northern Colorado Medical Center in Greeley after his condition was evaluated at the command center. A spokesman at the medical center said Lundstedt is in good condition and is being treated for frostbite injuries at the facility’s burn center.
“It was such a shock,” said Verda Wilkins, who lives across the street from the Lundstedts in Fort Collins.
The family runs an automotive business there. The boys, including an older brother, have been active in auto racing, a sport she said they love.
“I always worried about the racing being so dangerous. I didn’t think of something like this,” Wilkins said.
The Lundstedt family requested privacy through an employee at their Lundstedt Automotive Inc. business.
White said the search for the Lundstedts was one of the largest ever undertaken in Jackson County and one of the most dangerous. There were a number of avalanches spotted by the helicopters in the search area while search teams were picking their way across dangerous terrain.
“The conditions were extremely dangerous,” White said. “This was a heroic effort by all involved.”
Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com
