Memorial rodeo planned for Columbia Falls man who died tending to horses during blizzard

Cody Sorenson and Dakota Pearle went into the Bob Marshall Wilderness on a September elk hunt. The trip went south almost immediately. They got a late start and it was pouring rain. Still, they packed up Sorenson’s blind Spotted Leopard Appaloosa horse Outlaw and headed to Basin in the heart of the Bob Marshall.

Outlaw, which had been Sorenson’s first horse, had lost its eyesight on a trip years before. The horse had wandered away and become lost in the Bob as horses have been known to do. It ended up stuck in a bog and was found by some hikers. As it thrashed around in the brush, both eyes were damaged. 

But the horse was Sorenson’s best friend and he vowed never to abandon it or put it down. Outlaw proved its mettle on that September hunt. It hauled in the gear with barely a missed step and the next day, when the rain had subsided, Sorenson and Pearle built a big fire to dry the horse off.

You don’t saddle up a wet horse — it’s a recipe for sores. The horse, being blind, stood close to the 6-foot high flames and relished the heat after the soaking rain, Pearle recalled.

“Outlaw was steaming,” Pearle said. “It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen in my life.”

With the horse dried, they saddled it up and continued their journey. The hunt was unsuccessful, but it was memorable nonetheless, Pearle said.

GIVEN SORENSON'S love for horses and the outdoors, it was no surprise that he was doing all he could to keep his stock watered and fed during a series of winter storms earlier this month.

He was well-known in local rodeo circles and was trying to get a fledgling outfitting and guide business going, said Sorenson’s mother, Bilynda Jassman. He was leasing several mules and horses and, of course, he still had Outlaw, boarding them at the Flying Eagle Ranch in Coram.

As a snowstorm pounded the area, Sorenson had to haul water from the spring at Berne Park up to the animals, as he didn’t have running water. With temperatures 30 below zero and a howling wind, it was all Sorenson could do to keep the water from freezing. He started a fire near the water tanks and then tended it to keep them from freezing.

On Jan. 14 he went into his running pickup truck and laid down on the seat with the engine running to get some rest. That was the last day anyone got a message from Sorenson. 

It appears that snow covered the tailpipe of the pickup, and preliminary results indicate Sorenson died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning, though it will take a month for an autopsy to reveal what definitively happened, Jassman said in an interview last week.

Sorenson was 24 years old.

He was found three days later by a friend who was worried about him. 

“He died trying to live his dream,” Jassman said.

He leaves behind his wife, Molly, and 17-month-old daughter, Eleanore Josefine Rose.

His stock, the ones he was working day and night to make sure they weathered the storm, all survived, including Outlaw.

A fundraiser and memorial rodeo, which family and friends are calling a “Codeo” is planned for 7 p.m. at Majestic Valley Arena Feb. 3. It will feature Outlaw, and rodeo participants will have green powder on their stock, which will fly into the air as they ride, Jassman said.

Green was Sorenson’s favorite color and when he competed in rodeos he always wore a green vest and green shirt.

Sorenson’s daughter Ellie, as they call her, was born with a heart problem and has had multiple procedures. Ellie is doing well now, Jassman said, but as a result of her procedures the family was struggling to get out of medical debt.

SORENSON'S BULL riding exploits were documented in past Hungry Horse News stories.

“I like bull riding because, even though there are all kinds of people who help you out, you’re really on your own out there. And each time, you can figure out what you did wrong and make adjustments. It’s not all about being fit — it’s about how well prepared you are, your mental attitude. You can’t have any doubts,” Sorenson said in 2014, a bull rider who was just 15 years old at the time.

Friends and family shared fond memories of Sorenson.

His stepbrother Dakota Reeves recalled a 2016 fishing trip they took up to Moose Lake up the North Fork. Sorenson had an old beater Toyota pickup truck that had a penchant for overheating. They nursed the truck way back up to the lake, stopping every now and again to put water in the radiator. After a day of good fishing they headed back and the truck’s overheating got even worse. They nursed it once again down the maze of Forest Service roads and ended up pushing it down the driveway at 3 a.m. the next morning.

“But we caught lots of fish,” Reeves said with a laugh.

Pearle said Sorenson was one of a kind. Sorenson taught himself to brain tan hides at an early age and had made himself a buckskin suit that he loved to wear.

One time they went skiing up Blacktail Mountain along with some friends from Whitefish. Everyone had the traditional Gore-Tex fancy coats and pants on with great skis, and then there was Sorenson with a pair of short beater skis and his buckskin suit on, jumping off cliffs with the boys.

“We had some epic times,” Pearle said.