Man Walks 16 Km To Safety After Impaling Himself On Mountain, Wanted To Avoid Costly Helicopter Rescue

In a remarkable case from the US, a man hiking on Montana's highest mountain managed to walk 16 km (10 miles) in six and a half hours to safety after a trekking pole pierced through his torso. David Cifaldi, 32, was close to the summit of the 12,803ft Granite Peak on July 20, alongside two friends, when he slipped and fell on one of his two poles. Cifaldi, an emergency room nurse by profession, assessed the injury and decided that he could walk to safety, instead of paying for an expensive helicopter rescue.

Cifaldi said he immediately knew after the fall that something was not right. The pole had reportedly speared him in the side below his left arm, pushed through his lower back, but narrowly missed the vital organs.

“Through my skin, I could feel the trekking pole. I knew it wasn't deep, and I knew I could take deep breaths," Cifaldi was quoted as saying by KVTQ.

Instead of panicking, Cifaldi said his medical training took over, and he and his friends decided to hike the route they had climbed, whilst alerting authorities using a satellite communicator.

Navigating the rugged terrain, including snowfields and boulder fields, the group started making their way down. Cifaldi used his running vest chest strap like a sling while one of his friends walked behind him to monitor for bleeding.

Cifaldi's friend Jess Ross, who was with him during the hike, wrote on the GoFundMe page that the pole “went all the way through his lat, sticking out both ends, with roughly 8 inches between the two holes.”

Also Read | Foreigner Gets Free Malaria, Dengue Checkup In Surat Government Hospital, Says Would Have Waited Months In Germany

Cifaldi Will Return

Ultimately, it took the three hikers more than six hours to reach a trailhead where Cifaldi was taken to a hospital before being transferred to Intermountain Health in Billings. The doctors managed to safely remove the trekking pole from his body.

“A couple inches the other way, and this would be a different story," said Cifaldi, reflecting on the accident,

Despite the accident, Cifaldi's adventurous spirit is still as high as ever. He plans to return to the mountain next year to finish what he started and complete the climb to the summit.