What would make someone hike 10 miles with a trekking pole still stuck through their body?
That was the decision David Cifaldi made after a fall on Montana’s Granite Peak, the highest mountain in the state.
Loose rock gave way beneath him at about 11,800 feet, sending him onto his own trekking pole. It entered below his left armpit, passed through his lat muscle, and came out his back.
As a wound care nurse, he stayed calm and checked himself before anything else. He wasn’t bleeding heavily, he could breathe normally, and he still had feeling in his arm. Based on what he knew, he believed he could make it out.
Search and rescue remained on standby while David and his two friends carefully descended through snow and boulder fields. One friend stayed close to monitor him. The other walked ahead to warn hikers about the injury they were about to see.
More than six hours later, they reached the trailhead. Surgeons eventually removed the pole, and David is expected to recover.
Sometimes surviving isn’t about ignoring danger. It’s about knowing exactly which risks you can still manage.