As Skylar Peterson came to after a horrific all-terrain vehicle rollover crash that left his body shattered, he couldn’t see or hear any sign of the love of his life, Sydnie Stambaugh.
And in those agonizing moments, he thought the unimaginable had happened.
“I thought, ‘I just killed my fiancée,’” Peterson told Cowboy State Daily during a telephone interview Thursday from his hospital bed in Billings, Montana. “I just started screaming her name over and over again.”
There was no answer from Sydnie.
That’s because she was already out of earshot, running as fast as she could.
She was sprinting toward her grandparents’ home at the base of Sheep Mountain up the South Fork in Park County, where her family has ranched for generations.
It was May 4, and the couple had gone up the ridge behind the ranch for an engagement photo session ahead of their wedding, planned for Aug. 10.
They’d taken a side trip in the ATV to check on some trail cameras when the crash happened.
Not Quite A Mile
And as terrified as he was that he had lost her, Sydnie was equally terrified that she was going to lose Skylar.
“When I got to him (right after the crash) he wasn’t responsive. His eyes were open, and he was just moaning,” she said.
She couldn’t get cellphone service at the crash site, so she started running.
“I ran, I don’t know if it was quite a mile, but I ran to my grandparents’ house to use the landline to dial 911,” Sydnie said.
‘Something Just Wasn’t Right’
Her father, Scot Stambaugh, was also home at the base of the mountain. He’d just gotten out of the shower and was planning to meet some friends for dinner.
“But he sensed something just wasn’t right,” Sydnie said. “So he looked at the window and up the mountain, and thought he could see the wheels of the side-by-side up in the air.”
After getting a better look through his binoculars, and confirming that the ATV had crashed, he didn’t hesitate.
“He got into his pickup truck and just mobbed it up the mountain. He actually jumped (in) the truck and broke the front axle,” she said.
Help started to arrive soon — a sheriff’s deputy and Wyoming Game and Fish warden were the first to get there.
“We knew those guys personally, so it was good to have some friendly faces at the scene,” Sydnie said.
A helicopter flew in to take Skylar to the Billings Clinic.
“The helicopter pilot was very skilled to be able to land where he did,” Sydnie said.
Left: Sydnie Stambaugh and Skylar Peterson still want to dance together on the wedding August 10, even though Peterson must recover from numerous serious injuries he suffered this month in a side-by-side rollover crash. Right: Emergency responders stabilize Skylar after he was horribly injured in a side-by-side crash in Park County. (Courtesy Sydnie Stambaugh) 
Park County resident Scot Stambaugh broke the axle on his pickup rushing to the scene of a side-by-side accident that left his daughter’s fiancée horribly injured. (Courtesy Sydnie Stambaugh) 
Left: Emergency responders stabilize Skylar Peterson after he was horribly injured in a side-by-side crash in Park County. Right: Skylar Peterson and Sydnie Stambaugh think this cross, which belonged to Peterson’s departed father, helped protected them during a side-by-side crash in Park County. (Courtesy Sydnie Stambaugh) 
Grant Stambaugh surveys the aftermath of a side-by-side crash on Sheep Mountain in Park County that left his granddaughter’s fiancee horribly injured. (Courtesy Sydnie Stambaugh)
Long Road To Recovery
Skylar was going to make it, but he’d suffered a long list of ghastly injuries.
He had a major laceration to his face, broken bones in his face and seven fractures in his neck. His spinal cord was bruised, his sternum dislocated, and he had bruises to his lungs and damage to his kidneys and liver.
His right arm was broken in three places, his left elbow was fractured. On his right leg, the calf muscle had been torn off and his ankle all but destroyed.
“We’ve got a long road to recovery,” Sydnie said, seemingly a massive understatement.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for the couple.
The Crash
That day started as one of the young couple’s happiest ever. They went up the mountain for an engagement photo session with photographer Kelsie Templin.
After the session, they decided to go check on their trail cameras to see what sort of wildlife images they’d captured.
They’d driven the ATV up there numerous times before, but decided to take a different route that day.
“We ended up taking the wrong ridge, it got pretty steep pretty quickly,” Sydnie said.
The vehicle ended up at a dangerously steep sidehill angle, with the driver’s side facing downhill.
Skylar has been around off-road vehicles all his life and was confident that he could get out of the situation with some careful maneuvering.
But what he and Sydnie didn’t realize is that one of the vehicle’s rear tires was sitting just over a hole.
When Skylar started to step out to assess the situation, “that hole collapsed,” and it was enough to start the rig rolling.
Sydnie managed to jump out after about only one rotation of the ATV’s roll down the incline and suffered only bruises.
Skylar wasn’t as fortunate and stayed inside.
“I covered my head with my arms” as the vehicle rolled several more times.
At some point, his ankle got caught in a roll bar and was shattered. Then, he was thrown from the vehicle, which rolled over the top him before finally coming to rest.
As bad as the crash was, Sydnie said she’s certain that Skylar’s deceased father was watching over him.
“Skylar’s dad passed away, and Skylar had his dad’s cross pendant on the rearview mirror of the side-by-side,” she said. “It was the only thing that wasn’t thrown out during the crash. I think his dad was our guardian angel.”
He Still Wants That Dance
Because Skylar is young, his chances of recovery are good, Sydnie said. One big challenge has been that the bruising on his spine left him temporarily unable to move his arms.
Skylar said he doesn’t expect to get out of the hospital anytime soon. But on Thursday, he was able to move from his bed into a wheelchair without assistance for the first time, a major milestone in his recovery.
The couple said the wedding is still on for Aug. 10.
“He told me, ‘I still want that first dance at our wedding,’” Sydnie said, adding that’s his biggest motivation toward recovery.
“Yeah, that is definitely my goal, to be able to dance with her at the wedding,” Skylar said. “It really does keep me going. She’s an amazing woman and somebody I can’t imagine being without.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
