 Poster: A snowHead
|
We've not been Skiing since 2015, when my wife had a small fall from her ski hitting a rock which was hidden in late season snow (https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=2711297). It turned out that she managed a "perfect score" and damaged all three of the inside bits of the knee (my wife is a Gynaecologist, she and the consultant spent a lot of time talking big medical terms, I am not medical and only vaguely remember 'cruciate ligament' and 'meniscal tear', I can't remember what the third part of the trifecta was). Our surgeon was @Jonathan Bell, and he was worth travelling all the way to Wimbledon for -- someone who clearly knows skiing and knees, and put us at ease through the multiple operations (I remember at least an arthroscopy and a manipulation under anaesthesia as well as the actual ACL repair).
So post-ACL, the biggest issue about going back to skiing was psychological. For a long time, Mrs Szymon simply did not want to go skiing -- she was scared of hurting her knee even more. I think it's a natural human reaction -- like putting your hand in a fire for the first time ever, you learn to not put it in again because it hurt when you did. She went through physio, including doing the exercises religiously, and I think she's gotten the best outcome she could have done from the operations (her knee still swells a bit with exercise and gives her twinges, but it is manageable and stable). It wasn't like she wasn't putting the work in -- just just really didn't want to take the risk again, and so I filed skiing down as an activity that, no matter how much we love it, we just won't be doing again. Of course I would sometimes reminisce the love of carving down a slope covered in fresh powder, and cry in the night (when alone and she was on a shift in the hospital) to think I wouldn't get to experience it again, but that's just the way it is. Or so I thought.
So this year, for the first time in for ever, Mrs Szymon was given Christmas and New Year free from work. Ask the spouse of any hospital doctor and you'll find that this is extremely rare -- usually if you get Christmas off you have to work in the New Year or vice versa. We decided to use this unexpected blessing to go and visit her family in Poland -- and to my shock surprise and awe, Mrs Szymon suggested that we take the whole family to the Polish Tatra mountains (where we met over quarter of a century earlier), and she could try going down the (very very small) ski slopes there. It took her a good fifteen minute standing and staring at her skis before she got together the guts to even put them on, and once she did she started from scratch (literally -- we were with my sister in law and her husband, who had never skied before, so we all four of us signed up for a beginners lesson, which had us climbing up the baby piste to ski back down!). To cut a long story short -- by the end of the holiday she was skiing down confidently again, with linked parallel turns and better technique than I ever had; and with a huge smile on her face because she remembered why we love skiing so much!
We did have some issues. Before we even got to the slopes, she managed to fall over twice and hurt her knee (once nowhere near the mountain, and once when helping push the car up a hill), so it started off bruised. Also, although she was absolutely fine while actually skiing, after we stopped for a rest then she had pain in the knee. It's hard to tell whether this was due to the bruising or the ACL (and the fact that she was really tense and nervous much of the time probably didn't help), but it worried us a little bit, although it did settle down. Finally on the last day, a stupid Russian gorilla (I mean, six foot five and barely capable of speech) crashed into Mrs Szymon while he was zooming completely out of control down the mountain! She was going in a shallow traverse at 45 degrees, and the guy just rammed straight into her; somehow she didn't fall over (while the gorilla did -- it actually looked hilarious, he crashed into her, bounced off and landed up lying in the snow), she tensed all of her muscles to protect the knee, but was left with bad bruising on the right arm and back and pain in the lower back. Despite that, she still enjoyed the skiing (and thankfully the knee wasn't hurt!).
Now, since we loved it so much, we are going to go skiing "properly" again -- we have a week booked in Les Arcs for half term. So I'm looking for advice on what I should and shouldn't subject her to! We're staying down in Bourg Saint Maurice (very last minute booking -- we're joining my brother and my cousin, who booked much earlier and are next to the funicular, we will have to drive in to the funicular every day). My plan is to start off on the "tranquil zones" (I believe there is one in 1600, where the funicular takes us), and then to find some nice wide shallow blues and just go on them all day, stopping to rest wherever is needed. Does anyone have a guide entitled "easy blues in Les Arcs"? Are there any areas or runs that we should specifically avoid? Is there anything in particular that she should consider when skiing with an ACL, other than "listen to your body" and stop when she needs to?
For your enjoyment, here is a recent image of her knee -- it seems to me that Mr Bell left some sort of shrapnel in there, but the wife says those bits are necessary 
-simon
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Yes, so much of a return to skiing is psychological.
It sounds like she's done the hard bit now, including the fall and crash. Now it's just mileage, keeping up the strength, steadily increasing the confidence and learning to manage any remaining niggles and overuse symptoms.
I can't give any firm advice bar to let her decide what/where she feels comfortable with on any given day, at any given time.
Lessons can sometimes help restore confidence also, if you can find the right instructor whom she gets on with - but they're not compulsory if she's happy where she is (I hit a major 'it's too steep' block, so it did help me just to have someone to follow and encourage me to get down my target 'run of terror' - and a lovely understanding man he was too  ).
As regards Les Arcs advice, maybe post more specifically on the Piste or Resorts threads?
Hope that it goes well. Enjoy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
|
@Grizzler, thank you for the reply. Good idea to post on a more general area for resort specific advice, will do so!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
I sympathise with you both - I ruptured my ACL 4 years ago, along with two meniscal tears and an MCL injury. The knee will never be perfect but it works and it meant a huge amount to me to get skiing again.
I can recommend the Edelweiss blue at Les Arcs, down from the col de Fretes - a lovely long run, ending at a super restaurant, with a heated chairlift back up (Pre de St Esprit).
Good luck and I hope you both have a wonderful time!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
On my return to skiing post ACL l had a lesson with an instructor who was aware of my problems. He started me off in a snowplough and went from there. Bless him, he was so involved in my return to the slopes that the lesson went on way past the alotted time. He relaxed me by telling me about his summer job xraying cables on chair lifts(?) and the animals which live on the slopes in winter. He progressed me gently but quickly. Now l do not think about my knee. I just get on with it. Having said that, l am a lady of mature years, and enjoy being in the mountains, l have nothing to prove.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ