On Sunday 28 June 2015, Jonathan Hardman set out to climb Colorado's Mount Bierstadt with three friends and two dogs, one of them his seven-month-old German shepherd, Rambo. A few hundred feet below the summit, a thunderstorm caught the group and lightning struck. Hardman survived. Rambo, who was right at his side, did not.
The lightning strike on Mount Bierstadt
The group had started early to reach the summit before noon. On the way down, around 11:30 a.m. and roughly 500 feet below the top, a storm rolled in with heavy hail and lightning hit the mountain. More than 100 people were on Bierstadt that day, and initial reports said as many as 16 were affected.
Hardman was struck on the top of his head and knocked unconscious. When he came to, he could not move his arms or legs, his hands had turned purple and branching marks showed where the current had passed through his body. His friend Mary Prescott blacked out and fell face first onto the rocks, needing 43 stitches and two staples; Will Chandler suffered cuts and a swollen eye.
Storms kept a helicopter from flying, so the injured had to walk down. An emergency medical technician who was on the mountain bandaged Prescott's head, and other hikers called 911 and helped the group descend. Eight people were taken from the trailhead by medical crews, and three went to hospital, one of them seriously injured.
Rambo, the dog who stayed at his side
Rambo was killed by the strike. Hardman refused to leave the mountain without him, and another hiker struggled to carry the dog's body down; Rambo weighed about 70 pounds.
Hardman believed his puppy had shielded him. "He was right at my side," he said. "And if it weren't for him, I might have had that whole thing in my body alone." Doctors reportedly told him the dog had likely protected others nearby too. Speaking of his loss, Hardman put it simply: "It's like losing your best friend."
The photographs from that morning, taken before the storm, became Hardman's last pictures with Rambo, and they spread around the world as the story was reported.
About Mount Bierstadt
Mount Bierstadt rises to about 14,065 feet (4,287 m) in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, in Clear Creek County, inside the Mount Evans Wilderness of Pike National Forest. It stands about 1.4 miles west-southwest of Mount Blue Sky. The peak honours the German-American landscape painter Albert Bierstadt, who made the first recorded ascent in 1863.
Because it is close to Denver and non-technical, Bierstadt is one of Colorado's most popular fourteeners. Most hikers start from the Guanella Pass trailhead to the west, and July and August are the best months to climb.
Lightning safety on high peaks
The National Weather Service is clear that no place outside is safe when a thunderstorm is nearby. If you hear thunder, lightning is close enough to strike. Colorado hikers sum it up as "If you can see it, flee it. If you can hear it, clear it."
- Start early and plan to be off the summit and ridges before storms build.
- Turn back at the first sign of a building storm, even close to the top.
- If caught in the open, get off peaks, ridges and hilltops immediately.
- Do not shelter under an isolated tree or a rocky overhang, and keep away from water and metal fences.
- The only safe shelters are a substantial building or an enclosed metal-topped vehicle; wait 30 minutes after the last thunder before heading out.
For another animal-and-weather story, read about the Calgary pigeon rescue.
Related reading
- Rupee and Joanne Lefson’s Trek to Everest Base Camp
- Juneau the Dog and the Rescue of Skier Leonard Somers
- A Malamute and a Moose: Reading a Wildlife Encounter Carefully
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