{"id":22168,"date":"2026-07-30T16:54:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22168"},"modified":"2026-07-30T16:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:54:49","slug":"montana-man-impaled-by-trekking-pole-hikes-out-of-mountains-to-get-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=22168","title":{"rendered":"Montana man, impaled by trekking pole, hikes out of mountains to get help"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><em>Billings, Montana <\/em>\u2014 David Cifaldi and his two hiking companions were crossing Montana&#8217;s ominous Froze-to-Death Plateau and approaching the top of the state&#8217;s highest peak when their adventure took a bizarre and dangerous turn: Cifaldi slipped and impaled himself on his trekking pole as he fell.<\/p>\n<p>The 44-inch steel-tipped pole passed through the flesh beneath Cifaldi&#8217;s left arm, missing any vital organs, and protruded from his back. After conferring with his friends &#8211; and considering the high cost of a helicopter rescue &#8211; Cifaldi knew who would save him: himself. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I was like, &#8216;We&#8217;ve got to get off this mountain.&#8217; And they&#8217;re both like, &#8216;I don&#8217;t know about that,'&#8221; Cifaldi said of his friends&#8217; initial reaction. &#8220;I&#8217;m pretty confident this is outside my chest wall. &#8216;Tis but a flesh wound.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed__float-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"embed embed--type-image is-image embed--float-none embed--size-medium\" data-ads=\"{\" extrawordcount=\"\">\n<p>      <span class=\"img embed__content \"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/07\/30\/d39cd31e-4493-4a9c-8137-5a78f0edb047\/thumbnail\/620x456\/ffd495b2254948b4349a57d2812ffa7c\/ciff.jpg#\" alt=\"ciff.jpg \" height=\"456\" width=\"620\" class=\" lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/07\/30\/d39cd31e-4493-4a9c-8137-5a78f0edb047\/thumbnail\/620x456\/ffd495b2254948b4349a57d2812ffa7c\/ciff.jpg 1x, https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/07\/30\/d39cd31e-4493-4a9c-8137-5a78f0edb047\/thumbnail\/1240x912\/32ea55bdba731c855e2197e97e3b4aac\/ciff.jpg 2x\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/span><figcaption class=\"embed__caption-container\">\n<p>                  <span class=\"embed__caption\">\u00a0This photo provided by David Cifaldi shows Cifaldi after he impaled himself on a trekking pole while attempting to climb Montana&#8217;s highest summit, Granite Peak, on July 20, 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>                  <span class=\"embed__credit\"><\/p>\n<p>                David Cifaldi via AP<\/p>\n<p>                          <\/span><br \/>\n              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The 32-year-old nurse, who works in wound care at a Billings, Montana, hospital, did a self-assessment. He was alert. There was little pain or blood. And the pole wasn&#8217;t moving. The group used a satellite-based communication device, a Garmin inReach, to contact local authorities and inform them of their plan to self-rescue.<\/p>\n<p>Then they started hiking out. They carefully descended from the plateau along an unmarked route, navigating through boulders and snowfields before bushwhacking their way to an established trail. <\/p>\n<p>After more than six hours in which they traveled about 10 miles and descended roughly 5,000 feet, the group reached a trailhead where one of them, Cifaldi&#8217;s friend Jesse Ross, had parked a vehicle. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The only reason it was possible at all was his confidence,&#8221; Ross recalled. &#8220;Who are we to say anything? He&#8217;s the medical person. Our job is just to support at that point.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Cifaldi had long wanted to climb Granite Peak. At 12,800 feet, Montana&#8217;s tallest mountain is prone to unpredictable weather including dangerous lightning storms and bitter cold. Hundreds of people annually try to reach the rocky summit; many come up short. In 2019, authorities said a 65-year-old Minnesota man who was an experienced climber fell about 150 feet to his death after reaching nearly the top of Granite Peak with his son. <\/p>\n<p>As Cifaldi and his companions started hiking out, the pole awkwardly sticking out of his side, Stillwater County Search and Rescue team commander Ty Williams monitored the group&#8217;s progress via a dispatcher who took calls from the group. <\/p>\n<p>The first call came in at 9:44 a.m. on July 20, right after Cifaldi impaled himself. At 1:30 p.m. the trio said they were getting closer to the trailhead and to let the nearest hospital know they were coming, Williams said. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There was no danger to anybody else. He didn&#8217;t want our help and so we&#8217;re not going to essentially violate his rights or go against his wishes by forcing our help on him,&#8221; Williams said. <\/p>\n<p>By about 3:30 p.m., the hikers were in Ross&#8217; vehicle, headed to the nearest clinic, Cifaldi said. <\/p>\n<p>When they arrived, they were told Cifaldi needed more advanced treatment, in Billings. So they got back in Ross&#8217; truck and kept driving to the hospital where he works, St. Vincent Regional Hospital. <\/p>\n<p>Doctors removed the pole, bandaged him up and Cifaldi was back at work this week. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think 99 times out of a hundred I would make the same decision,&#8221; Cifaldi said as he sat in Ross&#8217; front yard in Billings. &#8220;Search and rescue coming to help you is free. The flight&#8217;s not. That was a factor in me deciding to self-rescue. But the fact that I had two experienced great friends with me and we had the ability to contact search and rescue if something went wrong made that a lot more of an easy decision.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n<\/section>\n<p>  <!-- data-recirc-source=\"queryly\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation  \">\n        <\/aside>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n      <!-- tags --><br \/>\n    <\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Billings, Montana \u2014 David Cifaldi and his two hiking companions were crossing Montana&#8217;s ominous Froze-to-Death Plateau and approaching the top of the state&#8217;s highest peak when their adventure took a bizarre and dangerous turn: Cifaldi slipped and impaled himself on his trekking pole as he fell. The 44-inch steel-tipped pole passed through the flesh beneath&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com\/hub\/i\/r\/2026\/07\/30\/b01c7cdc-0912-4f93-8ef5-face34ac155b\/thumbnail\/1200x630g3\/d4c177c14af548e481c2c48d137643cc\/ciff.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}