<p>A hiker in Montana impaled himself with a trekking pole after slipping on Granite Peak, the state’s tallest mountain, and walked for several hours with the pole embedded in his body.</p>
<p>The pole entered his left lateral muscle below the armpit and exited through his back. He remained alert, breathing comfortably, and believed the injury was not to his chest or lungs as the group began their descent from about 12,800 feet near the summit.</p>
<p>The hiker, a 32-year-old wound nurse, and two friends started the ascent in the early morning with plans to camp at Froze-to-Death Plateau before summiting. One friend had reached the summit and led the others up the mountain as they neared the plateau around sunrise.</p>
<p>After a fall, rescue was coordinated as one friend sent a GPS SOS while another photographed the wound to assess it. The party decided they could descend without a helicopter evacuation, continuing down the mountain with search and rescue on standby and covering about 10 miles to reach the trailhead by mid-afternoon.</p>
<p>They reached a hospital by 3:30 p.m., with the pole still inside him for about seven hours. Doctors eventually performed a conscious-sedation removal of the pole and placed a drain. He returned home the following day and was advised to rest for a week, with a plan to resume work after recovery.</p>
<p>The incident underscored the importance of having a way to contact emergency services during remote hikes. The hiker expressed gratitude for his friends’ support and said he hoped to return to attempt the summit again next year, once fully recovered.</p>
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