A Montana man and his two friends were hiking the state’s Froze-to-Death Plateau and were near the top of its highest peak when one of them slipped and impaled himself on his trekking pole.

David Cifaldi, a 32-year-old nurse, stood up to find that the 44-inch steel-tipped pole had pierced the flesh under his left arm, missed his vital organs and punctured the skin on his back, leaving the steel tip protruding through the other side.

After discussing what to do with his friends and wanting to avoid the steep cost of requesting a helicopter rescue, they decided to descend the mountain together, with the pole in place.

Speaking of the ordeal, Cifaldi told The Associated Press, “I was like, ‘We’ve got to get off this mountain.’ And they’re both like, ‘I don’t know about that,’” he said of his friends’ initial reaction. “I’m pretty confident this is outside my chest wall. ’Tis but a flesh wound.”

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Cifaldi works in wound care at a hospital in Billings, Mont., and did a self-assessment on his injury. He was alert, there were no signs of bleeding, no pain, and the pole wasn’t moving. Based on this, he determined it was not an emergency.

The group used a Garmin inReach, a satellite communication device, to alert local authorities and inform them of their plan before navigating an unmarked route through boulders and snowfields and making their way back onto an established path, eventually reaching a trailhead where one of their cars was parked.

The men travelled about 16 kilometres and descended roughly 5,000 feet over the course of six hours.

“The only reason it was possible at all was his confidence,” Cifaldi’s friend, Jesse Ross, recalled. “Who are we to say anything? He’s the medical person. Our job is just to support at that point.”

During their descent, with the pole protruding from Cifaldi’s back, he and his hiking group were monitored by Stillwater County Search and Rescue team commander Ty Williams via phone calls.

Williams received the first call at 9:44 a.m. on July 20, shortly after Cifaldi fell on the pole. At 1:30 p.m., the group called to say they were approaching the trailhead and to alert the nearest hospital that they were on their way, Williams told the AP.

“There was no danger to anybody else. He didn’t want our help and so we’re not going to essentially violate his rights or go against his wishes by forcing our help on him,” he added.

By about 3:30 p.m., the hikers were in Ross’s vehicle on their way to a hospital, Cifaldi said. Upon assessment, Cifaldi was sent to Billings to receive more advanced treatment at St. Vincent Regional Hospital, where he is a nurse.

Doctors successfully removed the pole, bandaged Cifaldi up and discharged him.

“I think 99 times out of a hundred I would make the same decision,” Cifaldi said as he sat in Ross’s front yard in Billings. “Search and rescue coming to help you is free. The flight’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.”

Granite Peak, where Cifaldi was, is prone to unpredictable weather, thunderous storms and bitterly cold temperatures.

Hundreds of people a year attempt to summit the mountain, but many fall short. In 2019, authorities said a 65-year-old Minnesota man who was an experienced climber fell about 45 metres to his death after reaching nearly the top of Granite Peak with his son.

— with files from The Associated Press