A celebration of life was held Oct. 30 for missing runner David Lunde who seemingly vanished after going for an early morning run Oct. 1 in the San Juan Mountains above La Plata Canyon.
Hundreds of people and a dozen agencies equipped with the latest technology spent thousands of hours searching the steep mountain terrain northwest of Durango before finally suspending the search Oct. 16, according to La Plata County Search and Rescue.
No trace of Lunde, beyond his blue compact car parked at the trailhead to Madden Peak, was ever discovered.
“Until we can find a tangible clue, we have suspended field operations,” La Plata County Search and Rescue President Ron Corkish said Oct. 18. “In the meantime, if we get a tangible lead we are of course going to act on that immediately.”
In a final effort to locate Lunde, La Plata County Search and Rescue launched an online mapping tool that allowed independent searchers to view routes already searched, then add to the map new areas searched. To visit the map, visit: https://sartopo.com/m/LJSFT.
Lunde was an ultra-fit long-distance runner who on the day he disappeared left his apartment on James Ranch where he worked to run a portion of the route known as the La Plata Enchilada. He was training for a six-summit run planned for his 30th birthday on Oct. 23.
Nothing was spared in the effort to locate Lunde. Searchers on foot crisscrossed trails, combed through wooded ravines and valleys, and scoured the summits of multiple peaks. Mounted patrols, dogs, helicopters, drones and airplanes outfitted with video cameras with software designed to locate people on the ground were all used. Software to locate cellphones and other blue-tooth devices was used. And the Air Force Coordination Center provided cellphone location forensics.
An estimated 3,462 hours went into the search, according to La Plata County Search and Rescue.
Family and friends gathered Oct. 30 at Gospel Church in Durango to celebrate Lunde’s life through prayer and praise, song, memories, hugs, laughter and food.
Lifelong friend Michael Noller, who flew in from the East Coast to be at the celebration, described Lunde as a devout Christian who was courteous, kind, helpful, patient, generous and a deep thinker with a fun heart. Noller also had a little fun in describing Lunde as a long-winded bovine enthusiast.
Then he got at the heart of what made Lunde tick.
“David wanted nothing more than for Christ to be honored in his death, as David tried to honor him in life,” Noller said. “The scriptures we discussed spoke of it. ‘Teach us to number our days O Lord, so we may gain a heart of wisdom.’”
Lunde was born in Cooperstown, North Dakota, and grew up working on the family farm alongside his father. In high school he was valedictorian, all-state cross country runner, and a varsity athlete in basketball and track who won awards in state speech competitions and music. He attended the University of Denver, where he was in the honors program.
He graduated in 2015 with a degree in international studies and French. He studied Arabic in Tunisia. After graduation, he was selected as a Princeton in Africa fellow and spent a year in Zambia working with a nonprofit that provided educational scholarships to outstanding students from low-income families.
Lunde moved to Durango in August 2021 to work at James Ranch. In a text to his parents he wrote, “I’m doing what I love stewarding creation’s bounty of cattle and pasture.”
“I miss his great attitude, his can-do spirit,” said Joe Wheeling, Lunde’s boss at James Ranch. “He was a great guy. It’s tough. We’ll miss him. We’ll miss his smile, and we’ll miss his great attitude. He’d jump into anything,” Wheeler says, breaking into laughter. “He came here to Durango as a stranger, and it’s amazing how many friends he’s created. He’s the quickest to be treated like a local that I know of.”
gjaros@durangoherald.com
