David Cifaldi, a 32-year-old wound care nurse, fell on a steel-tipped trekking pole while hiking near the summit of Granite Peak in Montana on July 20. The 44-inch pole pierced his side below his left arm and protruded from his back, but missed his lungs and other vital organs.
Cifaldi and his companions hiked this distance and descended approximately 5,000 feet to reach safety.
The accident occurred at approximately 11,800 feet, about 1,000 feet below the 12,803-foot summit. Cifaldi slipped on a small loose rock and fell forward onto one of his two trekking poles. He assessed himself and concluded the injury was not life-threatening, stating that his 'nurse brain clicked on.'
I'm pretty confident this is outside my chest wall. 'Tis but a flesh wound.
Cifaldi and his friends, Jesse Ross and Brad Reich, used a Garmin inReach satellite communicator to alert authorities. Stillwater County Search and Rescue monitored the situation but did not intervene. Commander Ty Williams stated there was no danger to others and that they would not force help on someone who did not want it.
He didn't want our help and we're not going to force it on him.
The group hiked for more than six hours, navigating through boulders, snowfields, and bushwhacking to reach an established trail. They descended about 5,000 feet over approximately 10 miles. Cifaldi acknowledged that the potential high cost of a helicopter rescue may have factored into his decision to self-rescue.
Hospital treatment and recovery
After reaching the trailhead, Cifaldi was driven about two hours to St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Billings, where he works. Surgeons removed the pole, which had been in place for eight to nine hours. The pole had roughly 8 inches of space between the two holes where it pierced his body.
Cifaldi received ongoing care and faced the possibility of further surgery. He returned to work within days. His friend Jesse Ross set up an online fundraiser to cover Cifaldi's medical bills and a new hiking vest. Ross described Cifaldi as selfless for asking friends to warn other hikers to protect young children from seeing the wound.
I think 99 times out of a hundred I would make the same decision.
Climbing Granite Peak in the Beartooth range was a long-held ambition for Cifaldi. He and his friends plan to attempt the summit again when he has healed. The mountain has a history of difficult ascents; only 17 climbers reached the summit between its first conquest in 1923 and 1953.
In August 1959, 38-year-old Ernest Bruffey disappeared during a solo expedition on Granite Peak on the same day an earthquake killed 28 people in Montana. Human remains believed to belong to Bruffey were found in 2000 by a group of six friends, along with a weathered boot.