A nurse made a remarkable 16-mile descent from the highest point in Montana after a hiking incident left her impaled on a trekking pole, which pierced through her body as she sought help.
David Cifaldi, a 32-year-old emergency room nurse, was ascending Granite Peak with two friends last Monday when he lost his footing and fell onto a pole at an elevation of 11,800 feet, according to reports.
“I just slipped on a rock,” Cifaldi recounted, expressing his disbelief over the situation.
Upon standing, he discovered that a trekking pole had cleanly punctured his side.
“I think my nurse brain kicked in,” he reflected. “Once I assessed that my life wasn’t immediately at risk, I felt capable of making my way down that mountain.”
Cifaldi and his friends opted to hike over 10 miles through difficult terrain, leaving the poles inserted in their bodies as they navigated rocky and snowy landscapes before finally reaching the trailhead to call for assistance.
A friend used a satellite communicator to reach local rescue teams while another stayed with Cifaldi throughout the arduous journey.
Jesse Ross, one of the companions, shared in a GoFundMe post: “David navigated through snowy highlands and rocky fields, and made it to the trailhead completely on his own. He remained surprisingly upbeat throughout.”
“At one point, near Mystic Lake, he even asked one of us to move ahead and warn other hikers to shield kids from seeing his injury,” Ross added.
After a grueling 6.5-hour trek to the trailhead, Cifaldi was taken to a hospital and later transferred to Intermountain Health in Billings, where the trekking poles were finally removed from his body.
“I consider myself very lucky,” Cifaldi stated. “If things had gone just a few centimeters differently, it could have been a whole different story.”
Now in recovery, he hopes to return to patient care soon, though he is facing “significant medical bills.”
A fundraising effort for Cifaldi’s medical costs, including potential future surgeries, has so far raised over $2,700 towards a goal of $10,000.
