Overview
- The impalement occurred on July 20 during a mid‑July ascent of Granite Peak when a metal trekking pole pierced the left lateral torso of 32‑year‑old wound‑care nurse David Cifaldi.
- Cifaldi assessed that major bleeding and his lungs appeared intact and, with one friend sending an SOS via a GPS device and another monitoring the wound, the group chose to descend rather than wait for an aerial rescue.
- He walked about 16 kilometers over six to seven hours with the pole lodged in his body before reaching the Mystic Lake trailhead, where an ambulance took him to a small nearby hospital that declined to remove the object for lack of resources.
- Cifaldi then went to St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Billings where clinicians removed the pole under conscious sedation, placed a drain, and surgeons said major organs and arteries were largely spared; he returned to work about a week later and is receiving therapy for trauma.
- The case highlights practical rescue tradeoffs on remote peaks, the lifesaving role of satellite/GPS emergency communication, and standard wilderness guidance to leave impaled objects in place until definitive care is available.