It's been nearly a year since my last post here, and to allay some concerns of a few, I am still around and hoping to get back to climbing soon. So why have I been so elusive for the last year, you might wonder? Well, I had the unfortunate experience of having to have surgery on a knee problem that has persisted for many years and finally came apart last winter. I was hoping that some physical therapy would solve the problem, but as it turned out, the problem was much more severe than both my doctor and I had assumed. Originally the diagnoses was Patellofemoral Chondromalacia, which is basically a biomechanical problem that can easily be fixed with Physical Therapy. Finally, after going through PT for three months and having little to no success, I had an MRI done which found the root of the problem. Little did I know how long it would take to heal.

Author on Icy BC

So, after several weeks of knee recovery and a quick snowshoe trip to test out the stability and equate the distance to pain ratio it was time to start winter. After a bout of increasingly common sea-level snowfall and then record rains and floods hear in Western Washington, it was about time to get out to cold climates where precipitation came in the form of light and dry powder snow. Maybe all this global climate change with it's extreme weather events isn't so bad after all, especially if this climber friendly cycle of warming, raining, and then extreme cold never lets up.

With the growing number of climbers around the state of Washington along with all the other user groups, such as off-road vehicle users, mountain bikers, etc it's important that climbers have a unified voice. After attending a great informational meeting put on by the local Washington Climbers Coalition heads, Andy Fitz and Matt Perkins, it was excellent to see such a great turn out. With representatives from several different user groups that have already done what the WCC envisioned present at the meeting, it provided a rich environment for discussing what individuals can do to help out.

Wine Spires

All week long, as I watched the weather forecast go from good to bad and back to good, then bad again our plans kept fluctuating. Once Eric and Mike showed up at my house a little after 7pm on Friday we finally decided to head up to Washington Pass and Bivy in the basin below Burgundy Col. So, after a few packing adjustments and picking another Mike downtown, we were on our way to Mazama to crash at one of the Mike's friend's cabin. I was surely in store for a adventure with these new acquaintances, far more than I would realize yet.