Not a big trip, but a trip. Wesach June 7.

[garyfromterrace]

Yeah, it's not a 7 day traverse on the Ortler. Or a non-supported 2 week Alaskan mission, but hey. It was a trip. And I'm old fat and slow. So I will report!

It's been a lot of days since Feb 7. That's when I had a tune up done on the knee (debridement) and had to hang up the sticks for a bit. I had planned on a ski day by June 1, pretty much from Feb 7 on so it was nice to finally get out there and test the old joint. It had been a pretty cold and wet spring so I knew Wesach, up the south douglas logging road, would have lots of snow. I knew Maisie would be stoked for a hike in the mountains and getting into snow again. I know I was.



Had to move a few random rocks from the road. The road was pretty good though getting up to 20km/hr only happened a few times. Mostly 0 - 5km/hr.



The alder and willow were a fair bit tighter than the last time I was in here. And I also had a chevy zr2 which was a lot narrower. I knew rubbing compound was in the forecast.





End of the road. a 32 point turn later truck was parked and ready for the exit.



Up's the way



Skins on an hour later. Pretty civilized, though with proper route finding and any semblance of fitness, probably would have took anybody else 45 minutes.



With any self-respecting summer ski trip there should be some dry skinning.



I love this part of the hike in. The skinning gets easier and the views get better.





Ah, the alpine! I know you guys living at 10,000 ft may take it for granted, but for us sea level dwellers it's always glorious!



Just another gratuitous alpine shot with my dog. Sorry, not sorry.



Maisie gets the high point. Good hike, knees felt fine.



Obligatory selfie, look back shot.



There's always a very good feeling when you get back to the truck after a solo mission. This was no exception. It'd been a number of years since I was in this amazing little zone and it was gratifying to be looking at a "glory day" line I climbed with my buddy Phillipe up the north face of Wesach peak for much of the climb up. Yeah, fuck 25 years ago.... Oh well, at the end of this little mission, I was just super fucking happy that me knees both felt great! So great in fact that I went for a decent little mountain bike ride yesterday, followed by picking up the tennis racquet (after a year... fucking knee..) and hitting about a hundred serves. Feels good to be back.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Very nice
Congrats on the success

[garyfromterrace]

Thanks bud!

[XXX-er]

Good trip but i thot yer knee was facked ??

[garyfromterrace]

Good trip but i thot yer knee was facked ??

Yeah, I believe facked is the term the knee surg used. They're both in pretty rough shape, so next surg on either is replacement. Word from the good doc though is "knee replacement is not a crime, go have fun and I'll fix ya when you break". So I'm just going to keep doing shit. Albeit, with 2 custom knee braces on.

[Buster Highmen]

It's always good to exercise those old joints.

::

Good on you, GFT.

[plugboots]

Nice. I’ve had a steroid injection into my knee every late fall for five years now…delay, delay, delay.

[garyfromterrace]

Thanks buster, and good advice plug. My knee doc isn't a super fan of injections but I love him just the same.

[Buster Highmen]

Nice. I’ve had a steroid injection into my knee every late fall for five years now…delay, delay, delay.

HA!

I've been deferring any injections for 2 years now.

[m2711c]

nice day for it.