A man in the United States walked nearly 10 miles down a mountain with a trekking pole impaled through his body after a hiking accident on Montana’s Granite Peak, the state’s highest mountain.
David Cifaldi, an emergency room nurse, was climbing the 12,803-foot peak with two friends when he slipped and fell onto one of his trekking poles, which pierced his side and exited through his lower back.
Despite the severe injury, Cifaldi remained calm and decided against calling for an emergency rescue after assessing that no vital organs had been struck.
“By the time I rolled over, I knew something wasn’t right,” he told local media. He later said his medical training allowed him to quickly evaluate the injury and determine that he could safely make his way down the mountain.
The pole entered below his left arm and narrowly missed several major organs. Cifaldi said he was still able to breathe normally and believed the injury was not immediately life-threatening.
Accompanied by his two hiking companions, he carefully descended the mountain. One friend walked behind him to ensure he did not fall again, while the other went ahead to alert approaching hikers. To keep his spirits up, the group even joked that he “looked like a kebab.”
After reaching the trailhead, Cifaldi was taken to a nearby medical clinic before being driven about two hours to a hospital in Billings, where surgeons successfully removed the pole.
“I feel very lucky,” Cifaldi said. “A couple of inches the other way and this would have been a completely different story.”
A fundraising campaign has since been launched to help cover his medical expenses. In the campaign, his friend Jesse Ross praised Cifaldi for remaining calm throughout the ordeal, saying he never complained during the entire 10-mile hike back to safety.
Once he has fully recovered, Cifaldi says he hopes to return with his friends and complete the climb to the summit of Granite Peak.
