Nurse impaled by pole during hike forced to trek 10 miles for help: ‘A freak thing’

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A wound care clinic nurse survived a freak hiking accident — and impressively hiked 10 miles to safety after suffering a serious injury.

David Cifaldi, who previously worked as an emergency room nurse, was impaled by a trekking pole while climbing Montana’s Granite Peak on July 20.

Cifaldi was hiking with two friends before the accident occurred, according to a GoFundMe page set up to help him.

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At about 11,800 feet, Cifaldi “stepped on a small loose rock, dropped his trekking pole and fell forward,” per the GoFundMe set up by a friend.

“The pole went all the way through his lat, sticking out both ends, with roughly 8 inches between the two holes,” the page said.

Cifaldi, who works at a local wound care clinic, self-assessed the situation “calmly,” his friend wrote.

“No bleeding, full feeling, no lightheadedness, nothing vital hit, and the pole stable in place,” said the GoFundMe page.

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“Given his condition, he made the call to self-rescue rather than wait for extraction — hiking 10 miles back to the trailhead with a trekking pole still through his body.”

View of Granite Peak in Montana with trees, snowcaps

As they descended, Cifaldi also asked one of his friends to go ahead and warn approaching hikers so that no children would unexpectedly encounter his injuries, according to the fundraiser.

After reaching the trailhead, Cifaldi was driven about two hours to an emergency room in Billings, the nearest hospital equipped to remove the pole, according to the GoFundMe page.

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“All told, it was in place for 8–9 hours from the fall to removal,” the friend wrote. “David is now receiving ongoing care, with the possibility of surgery still to come.”

“I think my nurse brain clicked on.”

Cifaldi described the incident to local outlet KTMF as “just kind of a freak thing.”

“I think my nurse brain clicked on,” said Cifaldi.

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“As soon as I was able to self-assess and establish that this was not life-threatening right now, I was pretty convinced I was going to get off that mountain under my own power.”