An Austrian man hiking 9,000 feet up in the Sierra Nevada was on a peak taking a photo on Tuesday when he was struck by a lightning bolt that blasted away his clothes, burned a hole in one of his shoes and left him with severe burns.
Mathias Steinhuber, 31, was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail with his girlfriend and their friend had an entry wound on his head and an exit wound on his foot from the lightning.
His phone and the picture he was taking survived. The photograph has a bright orange and white stripe on it.
An Austrian man took this photo the moment he was struck by lightning while hiking in Northern California. The lightning hit him in the head and exited through his foot
‘Somebody told me the odds are higher winning the lottery than getting struck by lightning,’ Steinhuber said from the University of California, Davis Hospital Burn Center. ‘I would’ve rather won the lottery.’
Steinhuber was struck the day before a Massachusetts woman won $758.7 million in the Powerball jackpot.
‘It was like in a dream,’ he said. ‘I woke up. I had blood everywhere, my clothes were ripped apart. At some distance I heard my girlfriend scream my name. My first conclusion was that I probably fell down the mountain.’
The couple from Innsbruck, Austria was visiting a friend, Carla Elvidge, in Truckee, California, near Lake Tahoe. Elvidge said she, Steinhuber and his girlfriend, Kathrin Klausner, were hiking from Donner Summit to Squaw Valley and that all are avid hikers.
Some of the wounds Mathias Steinhuber received from being struck by a lighting bolt are seen on his right foot. His left foot, where the lightning exited his body, is wrapped
He was taken by helicopter to the the Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee, before being flown to the University of California, Davis Hospital Burn Center where he is listed in fair condition. He said he received the wound near his eye from falling on rocks after the lighting strike
The strike blasted the clothes off his body, including his underwear
Steinhuber feels extraordinarily lucky that he survived being struck by lightning
Steinhuber was hiking ahead of his friends and had reached the top of Tinkers Knob, a bare peak with sweeping views of the surrounding mountains and the forests below.
‘He was taking a picture and the next thing I know, I see this white flash, like an explosion,’ Elvidge said.
Steinhuber was thrown away and his shoes and all his clothes, including his underwear, were ripped off from his body. The lightning bolt singed his clothes and burned a gaping hole through one of his tennis shoes.
A second lightning bolt struck next to Klausner, who felt the electricity in her body, and the two decided to take shelter and call for help, Elvidge said.
A helicopter landed on Tinker Knob, which is at an elevation of 8,949 feet, and dropped off a paramedic who tended to Steinhuber.
He was taken to Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee and then flown to the University of California, Davis Hospital Burn Center, where he was listed in fair condition on Thursday.
Elvidge and Klausner hiked out, uncertain whether Steinhuber would survive or endure debilitating injuries, Klausner said.
Steinhuber and Klausner said they feel extraordinarily lucky that he survived and are grateful for the quick response from rescuers.
A video posted to Facebook by the California Highway Patrol Valley Air Operations unit shows Steinhuber’s clothes that have holes burned in them
The hiker’s singed shoes are shown above. The photo was taken from the CHPVAO video
The CHPVAO included helicopter footage in the Facebook post about the incident