Another soggy, grey, wet day it was to be in Seattle. Previous night at dinner, however, Kelsey and I paged through Washington’s backcountry routes book looking to go find some sun. After a few minutes of deliberation we settled on Tronsen meadows east of Blewett pass. Blewett pass being well past the Snoqualmie Pass was supposed to have good sunny weather the next day. We read through the terrain description and possible ascent routes. We thought about rough descent routes, subject to mountain conditions. NWAC predicted an avalanche risk of 2-1-1 with D1 wind slab problems. Overall a relatively safe day to approach the area.

We drove 2 hours in and arrived sharp at 9am at the trailhead the next day. There were 3 other cars in the tiny turn around. It was an easy decision to ascend Diamond Head and ski it first before picking the next route. The pitch was covered with loose snow and was heavily brushed. Trees in the way and kick turn angles so steep that my bindings came off, twice. My heel risers did not support much of the angle. It took a good two and half hours to the summit Diamond Head. Notwithstanding an hour of brushy struggle, the uphill was quite pleasant, blessed with light powder and sunshine.

Heading south (taking left at the T junction) we had a pleasant walk through pines up to the ridge. It was lunch time. We sunned ourselves with the peekaboo of blowing clouds and sun. We decided to descend swinging north-east. Initially pleasant, we soon encountered a thick of trees finding no exit to clear slopes. Later we’d realize that the clearing was only a few turns beyond a hundred meters of trees. Oh well.

Scrubbing through the trees we ended up encountering our uptrack to Diamond Head. In a quick decision we skinned back up, this time taking a right at the T junction. We arrived at a wide clearing with a high cliff. Just a few turns below we found a long open ski decent with untouched powder snow. We saw one other person skinning up here and he’d be the only person we’d see all day. Loving our turns we descended the last of slopes past through scrubby burnt trees back to the skin track in the valley.

Skinning up again, we trudged our way up through the gully south of Windy Knob. The wind was now howling and we had significant snow drift blowing from the south. Zigzagging on the south face of Windy Knob we summitted the peak at around 3pm. We decided to not skin any further to Tronsen head, but rather make our way down on the north east side of Windy Knob.

There wasn’t a clear path down Windy Knob to the north east. Checking the gradient maps we saw a narrow passage through what otherwise looked like cliffs. Skiing over the wind cornices, we skirted on north east face trying to find a descent. We couldn’t find one. Kelsey ahead of me discovered some snowboard chomps on the north side, luckily.

Pause. Had we not discovered a viable path on the north side, we’d have had to make a dangerous descent through cliff, rock and dry-loose snow. We got a bit lucky here. The take away is to always check and mark clearings through satellite imagery before hand. Clearings cannot be discerned while standing on the mountain top. A few trees are enough to block clear visibility.

We did two amazing powder pitches on the north slope loving every turn on the way down. The skiing at Blewett pass is A+ thanks to its generally dry snow conditions. It could not have been better snow conditions for us this day. A thin crust however lingered here and there. Unfortunately, on the third and final open slope this crust dragged my left foot out after a turn. I lost balance for a quick second and came to an abrupt stop, only to tip backwards cranking my knee beyond a locking position. The bindings set to DIN 8 did not release causing me awkwardly fall backwards and to the right. I immediately felt by calf and hamstring strain with sharp pain as I fell. Taking a few seconds for the pain to subside, I stood up and checked the pain. Loading the left knee felt ok, but a bit of pain remained behind the knee at the upper calf. I skiied down and caught up with Kelsey. Explaining the fall and pain we suspected a strain and not a serious injury. I was still able to take full weight on my knee.

Pause. Another lesson learnt - venturing into backcountry is filled with adventures. But be prepared for injuries and have a plan to evacuate to relative safety. Kelsey, who is a ski medic, and I discussed what could’ve happened had I not been able to get back on skis. We would have had to convert my skis to haul system have her drag me down to the forest road. It would have been an arduous effort through the brush and trees we skiied.

With the next two turns however it was clear that my knee was not fine at all. The knee buckled, went in and out twice. This wasn’t looking good. There wasn’t much pain however. I held my skis in a pizza and started a slow descent through the scrub until we hit the forest road. We encountered a grove of larches on the way which I could not appreciate over a buckling knee. Once on the USFS track, I held my knees bent and scooted down the hill slowly occassionally stopping to relieve strain. We made it back to the parking lot at 4:40pm. Carrying my skis to the car, I stripped down to feel my knee. There wasn’t much swelling except for calf pain.

Two hours later back at home the swelling was evident when Alee did an ACL test. The knee however did not give in. Two days later UW Sports medicine doctor also could not conclude anything with examinations. The swelling of my knee however was still holding. I had my hopes up for a minor injury. Next day’s MRI brought somber news. A fully torn ACL with muscle strains up and down the leg. There it was, the end of my ski season.

I’ve been spending the last week studying the anatomy of knee and all about ACL reconstruction. Surgery seems like the only option for stably returning to sports. It has been a struggle to find doctors and get appointments with surgeons, with surgeon being booked 4-5 weeks out. Getting medical care in the US is not only expensive, but also slow. I am not looking forward to the 9 month rehab and recovery. And the unforgiving medical bills that’ll pile up soon. I’ve decided to keep a running journal for the next 9 months as I work my way through surgery and what lays ahead.