In a remarkable tale of endurance and survival, an emergency room nurse found himself in an extraordinary predicament. During a hiking adventure, he accidentally impaled himself with a trekking pole and incredibly managed to descend 10 miles from Montana’s highest peak for help — all while the pole remained lodged through his body.
David Cifaldi, aged 32, was scaling Granite Peak alongside two companions when the accident occurred. The group had reached an elevation of 11,800 feet on a Monday expedition, when Cifaldi unexpectedly lost his footing and fell onto the pole, as reported by KTMF and a GoFundMe page set up to assist with his medical costs.
“I just slipped on some rocks,” Cifaldi recounted to the news outlet. “It was just kind of a freak thing.”
Upon regaining his composure, Cifaldi realized that the trekking pole had skewered cleanly through his side.
“I think my nurse brain clicked on,” he explained. “Once I assessed the situation and determined it wasn’t immediately life-threatening, I felt sure I could make it off the mountain under my own strength.”
Cifaldi and his pals decided to leave the pole lodged in his body and hike more than 10 miles over rugged terrain — descending over the peak’s boulders and snowfields to reach the trailhead to get help, the outlet reported.
One friend used a satellite communicator to contact local search and rescue while another stayed with Cifaldi to help him navigate the crucial trek.
“David navigated the plateau’s snowfields and boulder fields, made his way down past Mystic Lake, and reached the trailhead entirely under his own power — never once complaining, staying in remarkably high spirits,” Jesse Ross, who was hiking with Cifaldi, wrote in a GoFundMe statement.
“Near Mystic Lake, he even asked one of us to hike ahead and warn other hikers, so no children would have to see the wound,” Ross said.
Cifaldi reached the trailhead after 6-and-a-half hours and was taken to a hospital before being transferred to Intermountain Health in Billings, where the trekking pole was finally removed.
“I feel very lucky,” Cifaldi recalled. “A couple inches the other way, and this would be a different story.”
The nurse is now recovering and hopes to quickly return to helping his patients — but is facing “significant medical bills.”
The fundraiser to raise money for Cifaldi’s medical expenses, including a possible upcoming surgery, has raised over $2,700 of its $10,000 goal.