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Most stories of faith and survival feel familiar—until you hear Mick Wrenholt’s astonishing journey from tragedy to hope. After losing his son Luke in the womb and surviving a life-threatening avalanche, Mick’s miraculous encounters with grace will challenge everything you think you know about pain, providence, and redemption.In this powerful episode, Mick shares two life-altering stories: one of devastating loss and one of miraculous rescue. You'll discover how an ego-driven mountain climb turned into a near-death experience, and how an unlikely stranger appeared just in time to save his life when all seemed lost. His tales aren’t just about surviving against the odds—they're about the transformative power of faith in the darkest moments.We break down: the mental shift from anger to surrender, the role of prayer and scripture in healing, and the profound impact of trusting God's love amidst tragedy. Mick reveals the secret to overcoming despair and how his path to faith reshaped his family’s future—turning grief into grace, and heartbreak into a testimony of redemption.If you’re facing your own mountains — whether literal or emotional — this episode offers hope, purpose, and a reminder that even in our deepest suffering, we are never alone. Perfect for anyone seeking inspiration, healing, or a fresh perspective on life’s greatest challenges, Mick’s story encourages us all to embrace faith, no matter how impossible the climb.Mick Wrenholt is a speaker and storyteller whose journey from tragedy to restoration illuminates the incredible grace available to us all. His stories of faith and survival inspire listeners to trust in God's love through every trial and triumph.Get ready to be moved—this is a story of faith that will stay with you long after the episode ends
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00:47 - Meet Mick: Faith And Survival
01:44 - Growing Up Religious Without Relationship
03:08 - Colorado Move And Risky Ambition
04:03 - Winter Attempt On Gray’s Peak
06:13 - The Avalanche And Blackout
08:36 - The Long Walk Out And Steve
10:48 - Hospital, Surgery, And Recovery
13:48 - Return To The Mountain And Lessons
16:04 - Marriage, Pregnancy, And Sudden Loss
18:38 - Crying Out To God And Healing
20:38 - Faith Reshapes Family And Home
23:43 - Living Scripture And Daily Practice
25:38 - Grief Without Blame, Grace Instead
27:45 - Closing Encouragement And Blessing
WEBVTT
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Hello everyone, thank you again for joining me on another episode of the Door Tour.
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So today we have a special guest with us.
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His name is Mike Mick Rangholt.
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He's a gifted storyteller with two powerful true stories of faith and survival.
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After losing his firstborn son Luke, Mick and his wife found healing through a life-changing encounter with God.
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Two years later he might after after that, he miraculously survived an avalanche safe by a stranger who appeared at just the right moment.
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You won't forget.
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Yeah, Dorsey, it's a real pleasure.
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Thank you for having me.
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What tell us a little bit about yourself and about your your background and where you're from.
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Yeah, thanks for the opportunity to do that.
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So I am originally from greater Baltimore and grew up in what most would consider to be a quote unquote Christian household.
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We'll um define that a little bit here so that everybody has an idea of what I mean by that.
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There was a discussion with some degree of regularity about God, about Jesus, about the Holy Spirit, but there wasn't a lot of actions that lined up with that language.
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So there ended up being a lot of anger, a lot of conflict in my home.
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And so as I got into my teenage years, it became abundantly clear to me that there was a bit of a disconnect between what I was hearing about God and what I was seeing play out in my life.
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And because I had a pretty, you know, normal relationship with my folks, but one that was pretty heavily on discipline, I really rebelled really hard against my folks.
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And I took that same exact type of relationship perception, meaning that what I thought was an experience with my folks, I kind of projected that also onto a relationship with God.
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And so my intention was to keep God and his rules as far away from me as possible, because I perceived him to be similar to the disciplinarian that my father in particular and also my mother were.
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So to that end, as quickly as I possibly could, Dorsey, I left home when I graduated from high school, moved to Colorado.
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My brother lived out there, so it was the farthest away I could reasonably go with some degree of support system and began living on my own.
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And, you know, that at that point I was paying my way through college and working full-time, and that really kind of began moving things towards that first kind of avalanche experience that you had mentioned in your intro.
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Yeah, and and to that end, what was that like?
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And you know, what where were you hiking and what exactly happened?
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Because I I don't think I mentioned it, but what I read was that it was actually your fault that you could that the avalanche happened.
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Yeah, it's pretty sad to say, my man, but that is definitely the case.
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So for all of those that are listening, I want you guys to imagine a 19-year-old overgrown child.
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Okay.
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It's it's not appropriate for me to call myself an adult at this point, although the world sees me as such.
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This is in the year 2000, and I am fueled by ego and a lot of mountain dew.
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So I had hiked, living in Greater Denver, I had hiked two 14,000-foot peaks that are oftentimes hiked together.
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Dorsey, they're known as Gray's Peak and Torrey's Peak.
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They're the two closest to Greater Denver, and they're very easy to do together.
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So as a result of their proximity to Denver and the fact that you can sort of get a two for one, and that you can do two in a single day, most people will hike these as their first 14,000-foot peaks that they will end up hiking.
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Well, I had done that, and then um later on, many months later, I decided I needed to do it better.
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And this is truly where the ego is kind of fueling things.
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So instead of just doing it in summer as a hike, I decided that in winter conditions, I was going to climb Gray's Peak, what uh through what is called the lost rat cool art.
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And what that really means is it's like the type of thing that people would ski down as a double black diamond, I was going to climb up, okay?
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And then get to the top of that particular route, which would have put me onto the ridge.
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I was then going to ascend the ridge up to the summit of Gray's Peak, go over to the summit of Torrey's Peak, and be home for dinner.
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And about 200 or so feet up the Lost Rat coolar.
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So this is an actual snow climb, meaning that you're not hiking.
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The slope is much steeper than that.
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It's nothing vertical.
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We're not talking about ice climbing or anything along those lines, but again, it's the type of thing that people would really enjoy skiing.
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So you are ascending using all fours at this point, hands and feet.
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And I'm two to 300 feet or so up from the start of the route, and I end up triggering and causing an avalanche.
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I am face into the climb, the snow, and I hear the distinctive woomph sound, which is the settling of the snow.
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And I immediately looked up, saw the fracture line, knew exactly what this was and what was happening, saw the snow immediately begin to slide, and I turned to pivot to my left to run perpendicular to the slope and the slide.
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And I got one foot, one step in that direction and was swept off of my feet.
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And Dorsey, as I was swept off my feet, I remember thinking to myself very distinctly, this is gonna suck for my family, especially my mom.
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And then the lights went out.
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So I regained consciousness at the bottom.
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I have no idea how long I was unconscious.
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But because this is November of 2000, or really November in any year, everything is beautiful in the mountains.
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It looks like a true winter wonderland, but that's really early in the season for snow.
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So while everything is blanketed white, there just isn't enough snow for all of the snow that's there to be stable.
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So it's a beautiful time of year, great time to take pictures, and it's nearly a suicidal time to be climbing on snow in the mountains.
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So whether I knew that at the time, and I wanted to say that I didn't, I probably did not know that, but whether I knew it or not, I can say for sure there's no way that would have stopped me from going to do this because my desire, my ego was pushing me to do something bigger and better than I had done before, and that most other people would do.
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So, as mentioned, I regained consciousness at the bottom.
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I assessed my systems and what was going on with me.
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And it seemed Dorsey, like generally everything was kind of a go, but I had this deep sense of you got to get out of here.
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Something's not good, something's not right, you've got to get out of here.
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So the two ice axes or ice tools that I was using to climb with, I lost both of those in the slide.
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I had two ski poles or trekking poles that I used to get to the bottom of the climb.
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One of those was gone.
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It had fallen out of my backpack from the slide and the tumble and everything that went along with that.
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So I had one ski pole left.
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I used that on my hike.
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So I hiked through deep snow all the way back to the trail.
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And then when I finally made it to the trail, I was able to travel uh much more easily because that was kind of packed out.
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And at this point, I'm going downhill.
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So my best estimate is that it took me somewhere between an hour and 15 minutes and an hour and 45 minutes to get from the base of the climb back to my pickup truck in the parking lot.
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And the whole time, Dorsey, I'm really anchored onto this idea of get to the car, meaning get to my pickup, and drive myself to the hospital.
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And I'll be fine once I get to the hospital.
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Reason for that is a very quick aside in high school, I had been mountain biking by myself.
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I had crashed deep in the woods, split my knee open, couldn't use the leg that I had split open.
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And so I pedaled the many miles back to my car with just one leg and got in the car, drove myself to the hospital, and they stitched me up.
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So I have this expectation in the Avalanche scenario of essentially doing the exact same thing.
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Well, along the trail on the way back to the parking lot and in my car, I am spitting blood.
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And I'm also noticing that blood continues to drip into my right eye.
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And Dorsey, every time I would go to wipe that, it made it worse.
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So I had to make this decision, this conscious decision, to literally just stop touching it.
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Um, and deal with the fact that it was quite uncomfortable with it just dripping into my face.
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Well, I get all the way back to the parking lot, and as I am coming into the parking lot, I meet a man named Steve.
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No idea who he is.
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This is actually not just November of 2000, but this is Tuesday, November 7th of 2000.
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That date for some of your listeners may bring back to their recollection, election day.
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This is the day of the hanging Chad, George W.
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Bush, against Al Gore.
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So elections occur on Tuesday, as mentioned.
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There's nobody around except for this one guy, Steve.
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He asks me what happens to you or what happened to you.
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I said very matter-of-factly, I was in an avalanche, and he pursued me as I walked past him over to my pickup truck.
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Well, the way in which I had always done things in the backcountry, Dorsey, was that anytime I left my truck, I would always lock the keys in the truck.
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And the reason for that is that I kept a spare key bolted underneath of the pickup truck bed.
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And the idea behind this was is that if I ever got into a very precarious situation in the backcountry and lost my backpack or needed to throw it at a bear or who knows what.
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You know what I mean?
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I then wouldn't have lost my keys.
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So in the event that I would lose my pack, but still be able to get back to my vehicle, I could gain access to my vehicle and then have access to the wheels themselves, right?
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So that's the reason why I have the keys locked in the car.
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Well, I'm standing there at my truck.
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I'm desperately wanting to get into the truck in order to be able to get my warm down jacket that is in the truck.
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And I realize that I can't get down, shimmy under, look up, figure out where the key is, undo it, and then stand back up in order to be able to get in the vehicle.
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So I have to ask Steve, this guy that's a complete stranger, if he can help me.
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Well, he agrees to do that.
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He gets the car open for me.
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And then, as mentioned, the desire was to get in the vehicle to get my warm jacket.
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Well, I have a jacket on at this point already, and I know I go to take it off, and I can't get the zipper down much further than my neck.
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So it's kind of stuck mid-chest.
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And it was stuck in all of the frozen and coagulated blood that had been dripping off of me.
00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:28.879
Okay.
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But it's really important here for all of us to kind of pause and reflect on the fact that hours ago in this story, okay, I am an athletic, strong, 19-year-old, really capable person.
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And now I'm standing back in the parking lot and I am in such a bad condition that I can't even get my jacket off.
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I can't even get the key that I've hundreds of times put on and taken off of my truck.
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So Steve eventually convinces me to take a ride in his truck, and he graciously took me to the closest hospital, which was in Frisco, Colorado, just outside of Breckenridge.
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I spent six days in the hospital after they transported me down to a full trauma center, which was St.
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Anthony's Central in Denver.
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And three of those six days were in intensive care.
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During that period of time, I went under for emergency brain surgery because, Dorsey, all of the trauma that occurred to me, the physical trauma that occurred to me during the avalanche and the slide, all of which I was unconscious for, occurred to my head.
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I banged up my hip to some degree, but that was quite literally just bruising.
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And so my skull ended up being fractured in three places.
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My jaw was broken on both sides.
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That's why I was spitting blood.
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And my scalp was truly split open from my right eyebrow all the way to the back of my head.
00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:11.759
So the thing at the top of your head, and as it then starts to curve down, that's how far back the split went.
00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:28.799
As Steve recounted it afterwards, he explained to me that when we took your hood off, because he was helping me get my jacket off in the condition that I was in, he said the gash, the opening that he could see of my skull was approximately three inches wide.
00:14:28.959 --> 00:14:38.399
And my right ear was essentially slumped down, not fully onto my shoulder, but you can kind of picture that, you know, your ears drooping pretty significantly.
00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:42.959
So I know for a fact, and this will just kind of round this particular story out.
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I know for a fact, and believe with every fiber in my being, Dorsey, that had Steve not been in that parking lot, I would have died in that parking lot.
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In the unlikely event that I mustered up enough energy to be able to get the key and get into my truck, I die on the fire road on the way back down to Interstate 70, because that is a three-mile fire road.
00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.519
In this case, it was completely covered in snow.
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And Google Maps has that drive from Interstate 70 to the trailhead as taking approximately 20 minutes.
00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:24.959
So I know for sure I'm dead if Steve doesn't show up.
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And Steve has subsequently told me that he arrived in that parking lot 30 seconds before I did.
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And he also said that he had no business being there.
00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:35.439
What was he doing?
00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:36.639
Did he ever say?
00:15:36.959 --> 00:15:43.919
Yeah, so at certain conversations that Steve and I have had, he's talked about how he was off of work that day as well, just like I was.
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And the Toyota Tacoma pickup truck that he was driving was relatively new to him.
00:15:49.839 --> 00:15:53.919
And he went looking for some snow to drive it on.
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He found it where he did, but he got a quarter of a mile up the fire road to go up to this trailhead.
00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:04.079
And as mentioned, this is a three-mile road.
00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:07.839
Like you only go up this if you have a reason to go up it.
00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:12.959
Well, Steve described being about a quarter of a mile up and realizing this is not a good idea.
00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:18.079
But he also realized that backing down was probably not wise.
00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:24.240
So he continued in the hopes of finding a place that he could safely turn around.
00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:37.120
But he kept going and he kept going and he comes into this parking lot, gets out after seeing my truck, walks towards the trailhead signs that are there to describe where he's at.
00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:40.399
And moments later, I walk into the parking lot.
00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:44.319
So I give God every bit of glory for it because he put Steve there.
00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:48.159
No question, no question, no question in my mind.
00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:58.319
What now who, like, I mean, I'm assuming it was a doctor or nothing, but what was they reacting to your family and how and what was that like?
00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:00.000
Yeah, that's a wonderful question.
00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:02.639
I don't actually have too much insight into that.
00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:16.079
You know, I have photos of how things went, you know, surgery, post-surgery, all of that type of thing, but I don't actually recall too much in terms of did they expect me to live or anything along those lines?
00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:28.559
Because once I was stabilized by the folks at Summit Medical Center in Frisco, from everything that I could tell, it didn't seem as if there was major concern about me making it.
00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:38.559
Now, that said, they definitely had concern about the traumatic brain injury, and they continued to check how lucid I was while I was in the hospital.
00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:44.079
They do that through a process of just asking me a series of questions over and over and over again.
00:17:44.399 --> 00:17:51.599
And that first Tuesday night that I was now at the hospital in Denver, I began to not be able to answer those questions.
00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:57.200
And that's what then alerted them that I was having issues neurologically.
00:17:57.359 --> 00:18:04.319
And then that's when they did some tests, CT scans, et cetera, and determined that I needed the emergency brain surgery.
00:18:04.639 --> 00:18:07.440
Well, now who like notify your family?
00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:08.879
Yeah, great question.
00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:29.279
So once I got stable at the Summit Medical Center, and that was really based upon the um these heavy, warmed, like literally heated blankets that they put on top of me, I was able to communicate with them, explain what had happened, and give them my brother's contact information.
00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:32.399
And I remember them coming back to me and saying he didn't answer.
00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:37.680
And so I gave them my sister-in-law's, I think it was their home phone number, and I said, you know, call her.
00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:39.599
And they were able to reach them.
00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:45.039
And then they were transporting me or had planned to transport me down to St.
00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:46.480
Anthony Central in Denver.
00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:52.240
And by the time I arrived at that hospital, I remember being there and then just seeing my brother bedside.
00:18:52.559 --> 00:19:12.319
Now, we mentioned in the beginning of your uh was there a long with all the with all the um with all the obstacles that you had to face and the injury that you had from the avalanche, was there a lot a lot of like recovery time?
00:19:12.399 --> 00:19:15.119
And yeah, thanks for that question.
00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:20.319
So the short answer is in the grand scheme of things, it was an incredibly quick recovery.
00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:29.279
So the jaw that I had mentioned that was broken on both sides, that was repaired with titanium plates, and then my mouth was wired shut.
00:19:29.440 --> 00:19:41.440
They told me to expect to be wired shut for approximately six weeks, and I was cut open in terms of I was I was released from being fully wired shut after only 17 days.
00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.680
I went back to work and back to college three weeks after the entire incident.
00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:52.639
I was definitely not fully, fully back, but I was capable enough.
00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:56.159
As mentioned, you know, my folks lived on the other side of the country.
00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:02.079
I was paying my way through school, living on my own, full-time student, full-time employee.
00:20:02.159 --> 00:20:04.639
So I essentially needed to get back to work.
00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:05.759
And so I did that.
00:20:05.920 --> 00:20:12.399
So we can look at it as kind of a three-week recovery scenario, with then a slightly longer tail after that.
00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:25.519
And the only lasting impact from it, Dorsey, is the fact that my vocabulary is fully present, but it takes in some instances longer to access it.
00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:31.200
So it's been kind of ironic that people have certain people have told me that I've been a thoughtful communicator.
00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:35.119
And I sort of chuckle because I'm like, I just literally can't get the word out.
00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:39.200
It's in there and I'm trying to get to it, and I'm trying to get it out of my mouth, but I can't.
00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:43.599
Did you ever go back to that peak and try to hike it again?
00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:49.759
Yeah, in fact, the following spring, I went back and climbed it successfully.
00:20:49.920 --> 00:21:05.440
And then the following July, so July of 2001, um, I went back with my brother and my good climbing buddy and actually retrieved the two ice tools and the ski pole that were lost.
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:09.039
Because I knew exactly where I was when all of this went down.
00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:10.559
Like I could distinctly remember it.
00:21:10.639 --> 00:21:16.319
There's a lot of geological features to where when you're paying attention, you can say this is approximately where I was.
00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:21.920
And sure enough, by God's grace, we found the two ice tools and the ski pole.
00:21:22.240 --> 00:21:26.480
Were they were they at the same spot where you were with really?
00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:29.279
Yeah, they were quite literally.
00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:33.519
Those three things were probably within 40 feet of each other.
00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:34.079
Oh wow.
00:21:34.159 --> 00:21:41.119
And how far do you think that you were moved when you got hit from the avalanche, got moved down the mountain?
00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:43.680
Yeah, for sure it's 200 feet.
00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:46.639
It's somewhere between two and three hundred feet.
00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:53.680
Um, and that that's vertical feet, but I mean, you know, it's a it was a big enough distance to really bang me up, you know what I mean?
00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:58.559
And I think by God's grace, I literally was unconscious for for nearly all of it.
00:21:58.639 --> 00:22:02.559
You know, I didn't I didn't have to fight any of it on the way down.
00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:08.240
You know, I was literally unconscious right after thinking um about my family.
00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:08.799
Yeah.
00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:19.599
Now, going back to your other story to you uh like you just said, you got married eventually and you have a son.
00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.240
And tell us a little bit about that story as well.
00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:23.680
Yeah, thanks, Dorsey.
00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:27.599
I'm gonna bridge the gap between these real quick with with some commentary.
00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:30.480
So I survived the avalanche, as we just talked about.
00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:38.639
The recovery goes pretty quickly and I knew it was a miracle that Steve was there, but I only understood that in an intellectual sense.
00:22:38.960 --> 00:22:47.039
I really did not grasp the gravity of how truly miraculous it was that I survived.
00:22:47.119 --> 00:22:50.159
So I mentioned growing up in the Christian home, right?
00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:52.480
I didn't have a relationship with God.
00:22:52.639 --> 00:22:54.480
I didn't have a relationship with Jesus.
00:22:54.639 --> 00:22:57.119
I didn't have a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:01.440
God was something that existed as far as I was concerned.
00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:05.279
And as mentioned, I wanted to keep him as far away from me as possible.
00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:11.279
So fast forward a handful of years, my wife and I, we get married when I'm 25, she's 26.
00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:16.399
We plan to be married without children for a number of years.
00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:20.960
And then we, Dorsey, decided it's now time to start a family.
00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:26.000
I'm picking my words here very specifically because these are our plans.
00:23:26.399 --> 00:23:26.720
Okay.
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:31.279
So we are blessed to get pregnant almost immediately.
00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:35.039
And as it turns out, we were pregnant with a little boy.
00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:43.920
I went to the, you know, first series of obstetrician appointments, and then towards the tail end, went to one of the final ones.
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.599
And throughout the pregnancy, all was progressing well.
00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:49.119
Everything was good to go.
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:56.720
And Luke's due date, this is our son, his due date was in the middle of January of 2012.
00:23:56.879 --> 00:24:05.920
So we're probably within just a handful of weeks of this due date when I go to the obstetrician's appointment, the last one with my wife.
00:24:06.240 --> 00:24:08.240
Normal protocols and all of that.
00:24:08.399 --> 00:24:09.599
Everything goes smoothly.
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:15.519
And so towards the end, I just asked the OB, I said, you know, is there anything we should be aware of, thinking of?
00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:19.839
It all seems like everything's kind of good to go, but you're the expert and I'm not.
00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:23.279
And Dorsey, her reply was, You're all set.
00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.879
Your wife could be on the cover of Fit Pregnancy Magazine.
00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:31.119
Now, that was really neat for me to hear because it stroked my ego.
00:24:31.359 --> 00:24:36.799
And it also signaled that everything was good with our baby boy.
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