Personal Experience: The Transition Of Mount Bogong

I first thought about climbing Mount Bogong early in the year when I learnt that I had a family connection with my Great Uncle dying up on Mount Bogong in 1943. I thought it would be good to visit three main spots, Mitchell Hut (very close to where Martie Buckland died), the summit (highest point in Victoria) and the Gadsden Memorial (where my great uncle is memorialised). At first I thought that my uncle David (mentor) and my two cousins Andrew and Michelle and I should go, that didn't work out as Andrew and Michelle weren't that interested in coming. I then moved on to doing the climb with my uncle David and a family friend in Sydney named Nick and his dad Will. The dates didn't work out as they were going on a family holiday at that time.
The physio told me that the muscles in the left knee were considerably smaller than my right knee, this was because I have a tendency to put more of my weight on my right foot. This meant when I put an equal amount pressure on each knee there is pain as they are not used to it. The physio gave me exercises to do for the next couple of months to build up my knee's muscles before the climb, he also took a couple of things out of my fitness plan. 3 times a day I would do 20 one legged squats on each leg with the left leg at 11 o'clock and my right leg at 1 'clock. I also had two stretches I did twice a day for 30 seconds on each leg. This was the biggest obstacle during my choice journey as there was a big chance that I wouldn't have been able to go on the climb. Over the next few months kept on doing these stretches and I could see a considerable difference in my knee muscles around 1 month after I started doing the stretches. After the second visit Phil told me that I could go back into running, step ups and lunges. I took out the normal squats as I felt the 1 legged squats were better and I was doing the same area while making my legs stronger at the same