Someone must have been looking out for David Cifaldi. In a bizarre accident, a trekking pole penetrated the 32-year-old emergency room nurse during his ascent up Montana's tallest mountain.
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But perhaps even more miraculous is that he climbed 10 miles down Granite Peak to get help.
The Nurse Called the Accident a "Freak Thing"
Cifaldi was 11,800 feet into his climb with two friends on Monday, July 20, when he slipped. As the New York Post reported, he then landed on the pole, causing it to stick out of both ends of his torso.
"I just slipped on some rocks," said Cifaldi. "It was just kind of a freak thing."
When he noticed that one of his trekking poles went through his side, Cifaldi said his "nurse brain clicked on."
He added, "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."
It Was a Long Way Down
After deciding not to remove the pole that had pierced Cifaldi's body, the trio of hikers decided to hike down 10 miles of the rough and rocky mountain to the trailhead to get help.
One friend helped Cifaldi make his way down. The other used a satellite communicator to alert a search and rescue team.
"David navigated the plateau's snowfields and boulder fields, made his way down past Mystic Lake, and reached the trailhead entirely under his own power — never once complaining, staying in remarkably high spirits," said Jesse Ross in a statement on GoFundMe.
He added, "Near Mystic Lake, he even asked one of us to hike ahead and warn other hikers, so no children would have to see the wound."
The descent down Granite Peak took Cifaldi and his friends six and a half hours. He was ultimately taken to Intermountain Health in Billings, Montana. It was there that the trekking pole was finally removed.
"I feel very lucky," said Cifaldi. "A couple inches the other way, and this would be a different story."
However, the nurse is now facing some steep medical bills for his treatment after the accident. So far, nearly $2,800 has been raised toward his $10,000 goal on GoFundMe.
