Rudy making ‘full recovery’ after grizzly attack 

Five weeks after a devastating grizzly attack, Rudy Noorlander will soon return to the community 

By Jack Reaney ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

After a grizzly attack threatened Rudy Noorlander’s life on Sept. 8 on the fringe of Big Sky, he underwent emergency surgery in Bozeman and was flown to the University of Utah Hospital where he has continued his care since.  

Through five tribulating weeks, he kept his spirits high with hopes of a full recovery. Finally, Rudy’s time in the hospital is coming to an end.  

On Friday, Oct. 13, Rudy and his daughters Ashley Noorlander and KateLynn Davis held a press conference at the hospital in Utah. Joining Rudy and his daughters was Dr. Hilary McCrary, the surgeon and head and neck specialist who helped reconstruct Rudy’s dismembered jaw. The press conference was held in-person and via Zoom.  

“Hello,” Rudy said after sitting down in the press conference. His voice is muffled through a surgically reconstructed jaw, now including bone from of his fibula.  

Rudy wiped tears as he and his daughters faced the cameras in front of a red banner covered with University of Utah Health logos.  

Rudy was rushed to the Salt Lake City hospital exactly five weeks earlier. On Oct. 13, his grandchildren saw him for the first time since the accident. Rudy’s Yorkshire terrier, Sully, has been at home, waiting anxiously at the fence ever since last seeing his best friend on Sept. 8.  

“We’re just super happy that he’s here. He’s the strongest person I know,” Ashley said, highlighting her supportive, loving and good-humored dad.  

“It’s gonna be fun to get him back out snowmobiling soon,” she added. Rudy has been saying his goal is to brap by December.  

After Ashley gave her opening remarks, KateLynn read a letter written by Rudy. He thanked everyone, including many strangers, for the outpouring of support in recent weeks.  

“That first root beer float is going to be amazing,” Rudy wrote. “Soon I’m going to be a free-range chicken and won’t be hooked up to anything.” 

KateLynn added that he’s been walking since the third day of recovery, and as Rudy then showed by imitating a running motion, he’s been racing people in the hallways. 

Dr. McCrary said this is the first grizzly attack she’s worked on. She specializes in head and neck surgeries, often treating cancer patients.  

“Truthfully, this specific injury was new to me. But his injury pattern… was something we’d commonly see for our head/neck cancer patients,” she said. “But yes, this is a first.”  

“The first thing that was incredible to watch was how positive Rudy was. Even after being attacked by a grizzly bear, he was very adamant that he was going to get through it… That was very heartwarming as a physician,” Rudy’s surgeon said to a room of reporters and many more watching on Facebook and Zoom.  

She showed a model of his lower jaw after the attack: a few teeth on each side with a gap in the middle near the chin from the attack. As is common for trauma victims and cancer patients, McCrary explained, they used a portion of his fibula bone to reconstruct his jaw.  

The primary surgery lasted ten hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. 

“As you can imagine, recovering from one of these surgeries is a long and arduous process,” McCrary said. “We are working on getting him eating, and maybe if we’re really lucky we’ll have a root beer float waiting in the room. We’ll see.”  

She said he’ll need a few “small optimization surgeries” in the future, but the bulk of his surgeries are done.  

As for his ability to speak, she said it’s a difficult question. His vocal cords work fine, and he’s able to vocalize when he really wants to say something. But it’s painful, for now.  

“I don’t have an exact timeline, but I promise you he’ll be speaking before you know it,” McCrary said.  

The priority, she emphasized, is to get him back to hunting, snowmobiling, and everything else he likes. KateLynn explained that delays related to V.A. insurance—Rudy is a U.S. Navy veteran—are keeping him at the hospital. Rudy made a frustrated gesture. He wants to go home.  

“He’s gonna go back and do whatever he wants in the backcountry of Montana… He’s going to make a full recovery and be back to himself,” McCrary said.  

‘Keep on fighting’ 

KateLynn said Rudy might try to attend Cat-Griz on Nov. 18 in Missoula. The 122-year-old annual football tradition, also called “Brawl of the Wild,” is no small deal for Rudy, an avid fan of the Montana State University Bobcats football program.  

“He’s developed a whole new hatred toward the University of Montana Grizzlies,” KateLynn said. 

During the press conference—and his five weeks of recovery—Rudy kept a small whiteboard in front of him to communicate. As KateLynn and Ashley described moments of fear in the hours following the grizzly bear encounter, Rudy scribbled:  

“His biggest fear is that he’s going to choke on his own blood and spit, so that scares him a little bit,” KateLynn said, relaying her father’s dry-erase message.  

After being asked what gives him motivation and hope, he wrote, “family + life.” 

“My job proves that most people are good and I can’t wait to get back to it,” Rudy wrote.  

“I will win round #2,” he added. Yes, he’s joking about a second bear encounter.  

KateLynn, on the contrary, hopes there won’t be another round.   

“The fact that we’ve healed enough to get to today, is pretty remarkable,” KateLynn said. 

She said Rudy was prepared—he was carrying bear spray and a gun.  

“He just didn’t have time,” KateLynn said. “Yeah. He’s seen bears four out of the last five years when he’s gone up [that trail]. So it’s pretty frequent now. But I do think having people with him is part of what saved him.”  

Rudy also saw four older hikers on the same trail that day, and he says he’s glad it was him and not somebody else. 

When asked why it’s important to share this story, Rudy wrote a longer message, including, “believe it or not, I believe this attack was an answer to my prayers and it could help someone else going through something similar.”  

Rudy answered a question about future backcountry trips: Yes, he plans to go back into the backcountry and no, he is not afraid to go back out there, KateLynn communicated.  

His first bear encounter was when he was 10 years old, he wrote. 

Rudy wants to write a book. The Noorlanders are looking for authors, KateLynn said.  

“He would like Cole Hauser from Yellowstone to play him in a movie,” she added. 

Rudy had prepared a closing message, saying that some of the most incredible accomplishments in the world have been achieved by “people who kept on trying when there seems to be no hope at all.  

“Even when there seems to be no hope, keep on fighting,” Rudy wrote to the world.