Luke Rohde Dies in Avalanche
With sadness, we announce the passing of well-known mountain rider Luke Rohde, who died in an avalanche on Mount Baker, Washington on March 10, 2018.
In an official accident report, the Northwest Avalanche Centre states the following:
“A single snowmobiler triggered and was caught, carried and killed in a large (D3) slab avalanche on Park Butte in the Mt. Baker National Recreation Area. The avalanche was triggered just below the summit on a NE aspect near 5400′. The victim was carried 1000′ through a gully and sparse trees. The avalanche was 200 ft (60 m) wide and averaged 4′ deep (1.2m). It failed on a 2cm thick layer of facets above a rain crust.”
Luke Rohde, Fourth Snowmobile Avalanche Fatality in Washington This Year
Rohde, who was just a couple of weeks shy of his 28th birthday, was the fourth fatal avalanche victim within seven days in Washington State. The others include two other sledders in one single avalanche and a snowboarder in another. It’s been a particularly devastating winter in the state, with challenging snow conditions throughout. All told, four snowmobilers have died in avalanches in Washington since February 25th of this year.
A number of tribute videos have already been posted, celebrating the life of Rohde and his passion for mountain sledding.
Rohde, a member of the Alpine Assassins and NorthWest Freeriders crews and a sponsored rider, was regarded by many—including staff at Mountain Sledder—as one of nicest guys going.
We didn’t know Luke well, and unfortunately never had the opportunity to ride with him before he passed. Thankfully we did get to know him at least a little bit, having had the pleasure of working with him to produce a couple of stories for Mountain Sledder.
Rest In Peace Luke, and one day we’ll finally go on that ride.
– MS
There is a GoFundMe campaign for those interested in donating to Rohde’s Memorial here.