On Monday, July 20, David, myself, and one other friend left the trailhead at 3:30 AM for a car-to-car attempt of Granite Peak, Montana's highest point. The route took us past Mystic Lake, up onto the Froze to Death Plateau, and across roughly 10 miles of rugged alpine terrain toward Tempest Peak.

At about 11,800 feet, we stopped to plan our approach to the saddle. In that moment, David stepped on a small loose rock, dropped his trekking pole, and fell forward — landing in the one position that turned an ordinary stumble into a serious injury. The pole went all the way through his lat, sticking out both ends, with roughly 8 inches between the two holes.

David is an ER nurse who now works in wound care at a local clinic — someone who has spent years caring for others, including through the height of COVID. In that moment, his training took over. He self-assessed calmly: no bleeding, full feeling, no lightheadedness, nothing vital hit, and the pole stable in place. Given his condition, he made the call to self-rescue rather than wait for extraction — hiking 10 miles back to the trailhead with a trekking pole still through his body.

We used a Garmin inReach to alert Stillwater County Search and Rescue, who staged a team in case his condition changed, and checked in every 30 minutes the whole way out. David navigated the plateau's snowfields and boulder fields, made his way down past Mystic Lake, and reached the trailhead entirely under his own power — never once complaining, staying in remarkably high spirits. Near Mystic Lake, he even asked one of us to hike ahead and warn other hikers, so no children would have to see the wound.

From there, he was driven two hours to the ER in Billings — the nearest hospital equipped to remove the pole. All told, it was in place for 8–9 hours from the fall to removal.

David is now receiving ongoing care, with the possibility of surgery still to come. Between the ER visit, possible surgery, follow-up care, and time missed from work while he heals, he's facing significant medical bills for an injury that happened while doing something he loves.

Any help — toward medical bills or a new hiking vest to replace the damaged one — means a great deal to David and to all of us who were up there with him.

Funds will go toward:

ER visit and hospital costs

Possible surgery

Follow-up care during recovery

Lost wages while he's out of work

A new hiking vest

Goal: $10,000

Thank you for reading this far, and for anything you're able to give.