Overview
- The injury occurred July 20 when 32-year-old ER and wound-care nurse David Cifaldi slipped near Granite Peak’s summit and was impaled by his own trekking pole through the left lateral area, narrowly missing his chest and lungs.
- Cifaldi used a satellite/GPS device to alert search-and-rescue and then, with two companions, chose to self-rescue by descending roughly 10 miles over about six to six-and-a-half hours to the Mystic Lake trailhead while SAR stood by.
- After reaching a nearby hospital his treating team transferred him to Billings where physicians removed the pole under conscious sedation, placed a drain to evacuate fluid, and treated the wound.
- Reports differ over whether Cifaldi rode in an ambulance or was driven by friends for the transfer to Billings, but all accounts confirm the impalement, the long descent, the satellite alert, and the hospital extraction of the pole.
- The case highlights wilderness-medicine rules about leaving impaled objects in place, shows how field medical training and off-grid communication can change outcomes, and raises questions about the logistics and costs of remote rescues.