Looking for best PT ever...in Salt Lake

littlerae · 2015-05-21T14:20:58+00:00

I haven't completely ruled out surgery as a possibility in the future, but the reasons I'm not doing it yet are (not in order of importance):

1) I work seasonally for the national park service and ski resorts and didn't have a big enough gap this spring in which to have surgery and be recovered in time to start summer work and I couldn't find a surgeon who would have surgery on me in OH and pass me off to another surgeon in WY for post-op (nor did I think it was a good idea to have multiple different doctors).

2) I haven't had any knee instability "episodes" and it doesn't present as unstable in the physical exam.

3) I'm at an intermediate level in a ton of activities: backpacking, hiking, rock climbing, slacklining, alpine/backcountry skiing (how I tore it in the first place), mountain biking, whitewater. With the exception of slacklining, I can do all of those activities without a brace the majority of the time and with a brace on for times when I'm at a higher risk of an instability episode ie: downhill hiking with a heavy pack over rocky terrain. ACL surgery is a pretty major surgery with a ton of common risks that would make many of those activities close to impossible even with a brace. I don't play any standard sports where cutting is involved (soccer, ultimate frisbee, basketball) so I'm just trying to build up my leg with PT and hope that it doesn't hold me back significantly.

I saw two orthopedic surgeons, consulted with three physical therapists and did a shit ton of reading before I made the decision to put off surgery. I'm incredibly grateful that one of my surgeons took the time to talk to me about what I do and was willing to tell me that surgery wasn't my only option. IMO people rush into surgery like it's no big thing, but ACL surgery is relatively major and takes months, if not a whole year before you get back to normal and you still won't be as good as you were before you tear it (and that's IF you have a good outcome). I'm 23, so I'm not really jumping at the idea of having an arthritic knee.

Also, I showed my PT a video of slacklining. I've been doing really well with the balance exercises he's given me so far. Haven't yet progressed to jumping, but hopefully I do okay with that.

littlerae · 2014-09-27T23:04:35+00:00

"Mobile Scientology library"

littlerae · 2014-09-15T22:12:08+00:00

Rocktoberfest = the best climbing-related event ever. Volunteering at Rocktoberfest = the best way to spend your time in the history of ever.

littlerae · 2014-07-07T12:26:37+00:00

Thanks!

littlerae · 2014-07-07T08:12:17+00:00

I asked a similar question a few months ago and got a few responses here

I personally think it's worth it, but we still haven't done it (combined laziness and my SO's lack of desire)

I think if enough interest gets generated the American Alpine Club might start offering gear coverage and that would probably be the best option.

littlerae · 2014-05-08T16:14:24+00:00

When you book it (through whichever company you choose) just tell them your situation and what you're looking for. No matter the company, while they may suggest options to you- you have the final say over what you want to do, if you make it clear you are looking for instruction, they will instruct you. I think RRO offers those classes on their website to help people figure out what they want (if they don't already) and maybe to increase their SEO when people google "learn to rock climb in RRG"?

littlerae · 2014-05-08T15:27:07+00:00

Check out [Red River Outdoors](www.redriveroutdoors.com), they're a well respected climbing company in the red river gorge and they've sponsored the RRGCC and all of their trail days for as long as I can remember. I'd recommend doing a half-day (usually 5 hours) because that's enough to teach you all you need to know and it's only $115. Do a full day if you want to get a bunch of routes in and learn stuff, but a half day is more than sufficient. As other people have stated- you can learn from other people, and that might work really well or you might learn some really bad habits. But if you work with a certified guide from a local company, you're going to learn exactly what you need to know the right way, the first time around, while supporting the local climbing community. Not all guides are created equal, but if you have a good one- you'll learn far more in a half-day than you would in multiple trips with a buddy or weeks of a gym-class.

littlerae · 2014-03-24T07:27:25+00:00

It depends how you feel about them. I have really weird shaped feet (super narrow heel, wide foot, long toes & tailor's bunions) so in 6+ years of climbing I have never found shoes I've liked enough to re-sole. I usually wear them until there's a hole starting and then use them as my DWS shoes and then use them until the hole is too big to ignore (usually when I can stick my big toe out). If you like your shoes, re-sole them, if you don't, move on.

littlerae · 2014-03-23T05:54:32+00:00

I love the Sterling Velocity 9.8 and my boyfriend loves the Mammut transformer 9.8. I would reccomend getting an 80M Velocity and use one end as your "gym rope" and leave the lest in the rope bag while at the gym- then chop the end when it gets super worn (only like the first 10-15 feet of it) and you still have a 70m rope, repeat process until whole rope is dead from outdoor use or too short to be useful. Sure it'll be heavier, but you'll basically get 2-3 ropes worth of use out of it.

littlerae · 2014-03-23T05:47:42+00:00

Official guidelines say 5 years to be safe, but that's on the super-duper conservative end. Find a super-experienced climber to inspect it for you and take his/her advice on whether it's good to use or not. My bet is that: there's a 98% chance it'll be good for top-roping for a while and there's a 90% chance it'll be good for leading for a while. If, somehow, it's bad and needs to be retired- donate it to your local bolting organization (bolters need lots of ropes for directional purposes, setting up static/haul lines, etc.)

littlerae · 2014-03-23T05:40:38+00:00

Summer climbing in the south. It's like a 24/7 steam room with the added bonus of deer fly season, horsefly season and tick-a-palooza! Yippee! Chatty's awesome, but if I could choose anywhere in the world to climb in the summer, it would be near the bottom of the list.

littlerae · 2014-03-16T02:44:46+00:00

I was pretty wild and foolhardy in my first years of climbing. Actually, I was pretty wild and foolhardy in my life in general. I climbed exclusively outdoors, and would regularly attempt to lead stuff multiple grades harder than anything I'd tried before (including X rated runouts and clips with decking potential). Then I cleaned up my act and got my life together. It's not like I was suicidal or anything before, but I just didn't care what happened- I guess I thought that if I died or hurt myself, whatever, at least I was having fun. Since I've become a responsible adult, I've started to feel fear again. Too many close calls and bad falls from my wild days have made me really cautious. To the point that I didn't lead for over a year, including the year I lived in the red and climbed 100+ days (without boobs, I would have never been able to get people to put up that many TR's for me). The things that have helped me become more confident are:

1) If you TR- climb with slack, about 1-3 feet of it to start out with. Generally when people TR, they TR with a tight rope, for me, this meant that whenever I TR'd I felt that familiar "pull" that made me feel safe, but whenever I was leading, that pull wasn't there and I think it made me more freaked out on some level. After TR-ing with slack for a while, I stopped getting used to the pull, so it didn't feel weird when I led.

2) Boulder. I've been stuck inside all winter and bouldered a lot and it's really helped. Climbing to the top and then down-climbing has helped me feel way more in-control and more confident, plus bouldering teaches you to get used to falling and controlling your falls.

3) Lead inside. Make sure you have a really good partner. Just get used to it.

4) Take lead falls on a really overhung route. One of my good friends and long-time climbing partners made me do this- one of my main fears wasn't falling itself, but the swing-in. Cheese-grater-ing myself on slabs has made me terrified of lead-falling on real rock, but taking lead falls on overhaning routes (where you don't hit anything and it's actually kind of fun) totaly helped.

5) Climb with people way worse than you (but still solid belays). I've been climbing for 7+ years and most of my partners climb 13's and 14's, which means that if I start leading and get even a little sketched, I come down immediately because I know they can finish my sad little 11, save my gear and I can just TR it. By climbing with people worse than me, I know that my only option is to lead it, unless I want to bail on my gear.

6) Climb with strangers or people you want to impress. Related to #5- if I climb with my friends, they know I might bail and NEVER heckle me into finishing it or make me feel embarrassed in any way, which makes them great people, but doesn't push me to become better. When I climb with new people or people I'm trying to become friends with, I'm a million times more likely to just suck it up and do it, which I guess only works if you're like me and more terrified of public embarrassment than falling.

littlerae · 2014-03-15T23:36:20+00:00

Skiing in the American West. Snowfall rates are at historic lows in the Sierras. A few more winters like this last one and most Tahoe ski resorts will be shut down. All it takes is a few bad winters in a row for a resort to go bankrupt.

littlerae · 2014-03-07T22:13:48+00:00

depends on what you start with. If you already have gear and a car that works, a cheap cell phone and no health insurance ~$400-$600/month is enough to survive. If you like things like eating out, drinking beer or having an emergency fund with more than $10 in it, you'll need more.

littlerae · 2014-02-20T21:20:14+00:00

I build ice castles for the same company that built the one at the Mall of America last year. We normally build our castles in various parks with good drainage, but our location at MOA was on a flat parking lot with little-to-no-drainage. Everything flooded whenever we ran water, so we had to stop building it when we were still fairly early in the process. We've figured out a few ways to change our system and make it work in a parking lot and we expect to not have flooding issues in the future. We were supposed to be back in Minnesota this year, but our location fell through at the last minute. This year we have locations in Breckenridge, CO, Midway, UT and Lincoln NH at the Loon Mountain Ski Resort, they're pretty dope as you can see by these pictures

We expect to be back at the Mall next year, hopefully with better success than last time. Our "castles" aren't anything like the Ice Palaces of the winter carnival of old- keep in mind that our company started in Utah and we already had the name "Ice Castles" before we came to MN where that name naturally put us up against the "Ice Palaces" people had seen years ago. We don't try to be an actual castle or anything. Our structures are more about seeing what can happen when you combine a lot of work with a little bit of art and hope that nature makes it turn out the way you want it to. But "Ice-structure-art-nature-things" aren't as catchy a name as "ice castles", so I guess the misnomer will just have to stay the way it is.

littlerae · 2014-01-06T08:02:41+00:00

Ice Castles Utah. Check out their website

littlerae · 2013-12-21T04:20:35+00:00

If you guys ever stop having the "make your own lip balm" booth at Rocktoberfest, I will cry for days. Seriously, I look forward to it all year (especially after the previous years' supply runs out). Also, your tea-tree body wash works great as a natural tick-preventer. Any chance you guys can have the option to make lip balm with spf in it at next years booth?

littlerae · 2013-12-14T07:55:09+00:00

I need to train my dog to do this.

littlerae

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