Nurse impaled by pole during hike forced to trek 10 miles for help
David Cifaldi used a satellite communicator and medical training to self-rescue after the pole missed vital organs, then surgeons removed it.
- On July 20, 32-year-old nurse David Cifaldi slipped while climbing Montana's Granite Peak, impaling his torso on a trekking pole; he then hiked 10 miles to safety with two friends before receiving medical care.
- The accident occurred at an elevation of about 11,800 feet when Cifaldi lost his footing on loose rocks while attempting to summit Granite Peak in the Beartooth Mountains with friends Jesse Ross and Brad Reich.
- Drawing on his emergency room medical training, Cifaldi assessed the pole missed vital organs and decided to hike out rather than risk removal; Ross monitored his condition during the grueling six-hour descent.
- After reaching the trailhead, Cifaldi was transported to a Billings hospital where surgeons successfully removed the pole; he is recovering at home while a GoFundMe campaign has raised over $4,900 of its $8,000 goal.
- Cifaldi plans to return to Granite Peak next year after fully healing, emphasizing that having a way to reach a search-and-rescue team "made all the difference in the world.
189 Articles
189 Articles
While climbing, David Cifaldi slips out and is impaled by his walking stick. But instead of calling the rescue helicopter, he runs down. 16 kilometers, with a stick in his upper body.
Man Walks 10 Miles Down Mountain After Being Impaled by Trekking Pole
David Cifaldi was hiking with some buddies through the cartoonishly nicknamed Froze-to-Death Plateau in Montana when he slipped and impaled himself with his trekking pole, according to a report from The New York Times. Appropriately enough, the 32-year-old Cifaldi is a wound care nurse when he’s not hiking. His experience came in handy when the […] The post Man Walks 10 Miles Down Mountain After Being Impaled by Trekking Pole appeared first on V…
David Cifaldi, a 32-year-old nurse specializing in the treatment of wounds, was just over three kilometers from the summit of the Granite Peak, the highest mountain in Montana, at 3,900 meters above sea level when he slipped. After seven hours of walking through the Froze-to-Death Plateau, the accidental fall has turned [...] The article "9 times out of 10 I would take the same decision back: it pierces with the trekking stick at 4,000 meters, 3…
Sydney Morning Herald
Hiker impales himself on a pole – then climbs for more than six hours off the mountain
The 112-centimeter steel-tipped pole passed through the flesh beneath Cifaldi’s left arm, missing any vital organs, and protruded from his back. After conferring with his friends Cifaldi knew who would save him: himself.
The cost of a helicopter rescue was too high for him: in a hiking accident David Cifaldi spit himself up with his trekking pole. His rescue became a self-chosen odyssey – with a happy end.
A Montana nurse, not to call the expensive exile from a peak of 4000 meters, traveled over 16 kilometers to get down from the peak and get to the hospital. The object had not hit vital organs
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