Man hiked 10 miles with a trekking pole through his torso to avoid a $40,000 helicopter rescue.

Man hiked 10 miles with a trekking pole through his torso to avoid a $40,000 helicopter rescue. David Cifaldi was approaching Montana's Granite Peak with two friends when he slipped and impaled himself on his own trekking pole. The 32-year-old wound-care nurse said the 44-inch steel-tipped pole passed beneath his left arm and protruded from his back, narrowly missing his vital organs. After assessing himself, Cifaldi found that he was alert, experiencing little pain or bleeding, and believed the injury was outside his chest wall. The journey took more than six hours and involved a descent of approximately 5,000 feet before they reached their vehicle. The group contacted local authorities using a Garmin inReach satellite device and kept search-and-rescue officials updated throughout the descent. With the pole still lodged in his body, Cifaldi and his companions travelled roughly 10 miles over boulders, snowfields and thick vegetation. Cifaldi was eventually treated at St. Vincent Regional Hospital in Billings, where doctors removed the pole, and he returned to work days later. He clarified that local search-and-rescue assistance was free, but the potential cost of a helicopter flight was one factor in his decision to hike out. For a U.S. medical helicopter flight, a reasonable national estimate is about $36,000-$40,000 per trip in total billed charges, according to federal health officials. Complicated or long-distance flights can exceed $50,000, while the patient's actual responsibility depends heavily on insurance.