I read a similar story about a glider pilot who ended up in the same situation. This guy rode a glider into a thunderstorm updraft and it ripped the wings off of his glider so he bailed out. Although he bailed out at a fairly low altitude, around 10,000 ft, the storm tossed him somewhere up around 30-40,000 ft. He rode that thing for quite some time too before it tossed him clear, some distance downwind.
