Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Hibernation is OVER!

Although winter is still in full swing this grizzly bear has decided to awaken from his den.  I have been off the mountains for the past few months.  Work as always has been keeping me busy.  Working with K9 Kimber is great, but it does consume a great deal of time.  

I also had a procedure completed on my hand to correct some issues associated with Dupuytren's contracture.  


You can see my before and after pictures above.  The procedure has helped to regain some use in my left hand.  I was off work for a while and I had planned on working on my CW skills.  With the discomfort in my hand during the recovery the last thing I wanted to do was CW.  I need to get back to CW practice.


Today I decided to venture out and head to Greentop Mountain.  Greentop is one of the summits closest to the house, and requires no hiking to speak of.  I trained with Kimber all day yesterday so I decided she should sit this one out.  As you can see she was enjoying the fireplace anyway!

The roads up to Greentop were in excellent shape, and the summit only had some light snow.  The view up top today was amazing.  I love the Smokies in the winter!


 Above is a view of Mt. Leconte.





I was having fun with the towers throughout my activation today.  Every so often bits of snow and ice would fall and impact the area all around me.  I was hit by several large chunks.  The pieces were soft so injury was not a concern.  

 I had a new piece of gear today, one of my Christmas presents.  Its a small stool made by Walkstool.  It is a small lightweight stool.  So far I like it.  Its light enough and comfortable enough to haul up to some of the easier summits.  This version is a bit on the tall side with the legs completely extended.  I might have to do a little adjusting.  All in all it is a pretty cool piece of gear.


It was great to get back up into the mountains, and get back in touch with some of my favorite chasers.  I will be working the next seven days, but I hope to get in an activation or two after that. See everyone again soon!


73's And Keep Climbing!!!



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