“—This story was originally written for and appeared in the Wishek Star and
Ashley Tribune and is republished here with permission.”
They say faith can move mountains, but perhaps at times, mountains move faith.
December 27, 2020, Hunter Pinke, age 22 at the time, collided with another skier as he came out of the trees on a blue diamond run down a mountain in Keystone C.O.
"I like to ski in the trees, or the powder in the holes in and out of trees. And so, that first run of the day was relatively easy." Hunter, now age 23, said while telling his story. Except it wasn't. Coming out of the trees, another skier hit him on his blindside. "He tried to avoid me at the last second, but it was too late. We collided. And then I ended up going headfirst into a tree at high speed. And that's where my injury occurred." Hunter explained he was wearing a GoPro as he recorded many of his runs, so later, he was able to see exactly what happened.
"Wearing a helmet saved my life." Hunter did not suffer from any brain injury, including a concussion. He also did not have a neck injury, which he explains the doctors were surprised. "But what the accident did do is it shattered my spine from the T-4 through that T-9 region. That's pretty, much if you put a pointer right on your sternum and go right around to your mid-back that's kind of where I'm at, right beneath the pectoral muscle." Pinke’s spinal cord transected at the T-6 area of the spine and he currently has no feeling or function below his chest.
This, however, is not where Hunter's story begins. Growing up in Wishek, N.D., Hunter went to school and was involved with everything he could. “I tried to be well rounded in high school, and I think that continued into college now." Hunter was the first person from Wishek High School to earn a Division I athletic scholarship. He was awarded a full-ride scholarship to the University of North Dakota (UND), and they've honored that even after the injury.
He, along with his dad, Nathan, mom, Katie, and two sisters, Elizabeth and Anika, are members of Faith Community Church of Wishek. Spiritual faith has always played a huge role in the Pinke family, Katie Pinke explained.
Fast-forwarding back to the accident and the middle of Hunter's story, he very methodically stated, "I want people to know that I feel really fortunate to have what I still have." Hunter is referring to the use of his upper body and mind. "From the beginning up on the mountain, I reached out, actually, with the guy that had cut me off. He was the one who called the ski patrol, and he stayed with me. The first thing I said to him was, 'Excuse me, are you Christian?' And he said, yes. I asked if he wanted to pray, and so we prayed up on the mountain. That was the first thing we did, and ever since that moment, I can honestly tell you, sitting here over a year later, I have not worried about my future.”
Pinke continued, “From that time, I've just had this unbelievable peace. It might seem crazy to say now, with so many more challenges and complications, but I'm more at peace with my future now than I was before my injury. One might look at me and say, holy cow, look at this kid's life; it's been flipped upside down, but in my eyes, it's just become clear. Throughout the recovery process and now moving on towards the start of chasing my goals, I can do pretty much anything anyone else can do. I'm just going to do it a little bit differently. And so, my goals for life haven't changed; they've been modified. I've made new ones, to add but I still have a lengthy list of things that I want to get accomplished. I've never thought I can't complete them because I'm living in a wheelchair; it's more of how can I complete them in a wheelchair."
After the accident, in July 2020 Hunter spoke for the first time at his home church in Wishek. The church's Facebook page had 1,000 live views, and then over a period of a month, that viewing reached 20,
