A hiker hanged himself on a trekking pole and had to walk 10 miles for help

This story contains graphic images.

On July 20, David Cifaldi was about two miles from the summit on a climb of Montana’s Granite Peak when he fell and accidentally impaled himself in his torso with one of his trekking poles.

“I just slipped on a rock,” recalls Cifaldi, a 32-year-old nurse from Billings, Montana.

When Cifaldi rolled over, he saw a tracking pole on the ground. Then he realized that the second pole was stuck in his side, “I think my nurse’s brain was going into overdrive… I was able to feel the tracking pole through my skin,” he says.

Cifaldi took a few deep breaths to evaluate his injuries, which helped him determine that the baton had not pierced his chest or lungs. His friends immediately sprang into action and took photographs of the wound so he could better evaluate it. “I was pretty sure it was a soft tissue injury,” he says.

After his friends helped him stand up, Cifaldi “walked around a little bit, just to make sure (he) didn’t get dizzy or dizzy or anything.” A friend of Cifaldi’s used a Garmin GPS device to contact search and rescue. But Cifaldi was adamant that he could get down from the summit with the help of his friends.

“At that point I was walking up and down, walking a little bit, and I was pretty confident I could keep going,” says Cifaldi.

He left the trekking poles in place, using his running vest chest strap as a sling. Then, with one friend sitting in front of Cifaldi and another in the back, monitoring the bleeding, the three began the ten-mile walk back to the car.

While many hikers choose to do the climb of 12,799-foot Granite Peak as an overnight trip, due to a slight weather condition Cifaldi’s group decided to do it as a day trip. Montana’s highest peak, the most popular route involves a 24-mile out-and-back hike with about 8,000 feet of elevation gain.

Getting it back into the car was no easy endeavor.

“It took us about six hours,” says Cifaldi. Along the way, they passed snow fields, boulder fields, and a famous section of the trail that crosses 36 switchbacks.

About four miles down the trail, Cifaldi’s group stopped to refuel, “and at that point we started making fun of the kebabs,” he says. “I think at that point we all knew we were going to make it.”

Cifaldi credited his health care background for helping him keep his composure during the landing.

“I spent a lot of time in the ER as a nurse,” he says. Today he works in a wound care clinic, but retains the calmness that’s helped him deal with stressful situations.

The biggest takeaway for Cifaldi was to always make sure you have access to emergency services, noting that rescue workers were able to call the hospital to warn of their impending arrival. They also maintained contact while descending to ensure that Cifaldi’s condition did not become worse.

On Friday morning, Cifaldi’s surgery team removed the drain from his arm. After a few days of pain, he is recovering: despite the fear of hitting the trekking poles, he plans to return to the mountains. The next year, he hoped to return to Granite Peak and claim the summit, but his injury prevented him from reaching the summit.

“I’m really grateful for the care I received,” says Cifaldi. “Once we got off the mountain and arrived to help, I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. It was as seamless as you could ask for.”

Readers who wish to support Cifaldi’s recovery efforts You can do this on your GoFundMe.