Tibial plateau fracture recovery

Broke my tibial plateau skiing January 13. I am now a bit over four weeks in to my 6 weeks of non weight bearing. Had surgery the day after the crash and now have two plates and screws. Wondering if anyone here has had a similar break and how long your recovery and return to climbing took. Hoping  to start full PT day after i become able to bear weight. 

Norm, I had a similar experience about 10 years ago at age 65. I'm sure your PT will advise a gradual workup to full weight bearing. My PT had me in pool therapy 2-3 times a week for the first 4 weeks of weight bearing with regular PT eventually taking over the brunt.

It was around 6 months that I was able to pretty much do anything I could do before. A year to feel completely healed.

Best wishes.

I broke mine years ago but didn’t require surgery but I saw a picture of Lindsey Vonn’s leg after surgery with her fixator’s and  she has a long recovery ahead.  I had a fixator on my leg years ago but nothing like that. 

I had same surgery 3/8/25 but also broke the top off my fibula, displaced my meniscus and cracked my femur skiing. I was extremely impatient with whole process that was grueling slow. I was out of work for 9 months, still using a cane for 10 months. The pain lasted for 14 months and this June, I actually walked down my stairs normal. I have worked extremely hard with PT and the gym to get my muscles strong which are no where near pre-accident. Quads and hams still weak 16 months post. But this has not stopped me. I did return to skiing 2026 season, just slow and not as many runs in a day. I have hiked many trails this season including Rocky Mountain, Equinox and just hit the summit MT. Washington. It is a slow, long process but it is possible to return to normal active living pain free! 

Ouch you did yours worse than I did. Glad you are finally getting some relief.
I had 6 weeks non weight bearing but started ROM PT a week after my accident. At 8 weeks I started climbing easy short routes again though not leading and not many routes in a day. At 12 weeks I was leading again but keeping it mellow. I have continued PT exercises and started with short walks then short hikes then longer hikes. I have most of my muscle back except for my calf muscles which has been hard to engage. It is now six months and I am pretty much back to normal though with a bigger day of climbing or hiking I most definitely feel it. My PT has continued once a month appointments where she does deep tissue massage in my leg and dry needling which has really improved my muscle ability to fire again. I was lucky I did not have soft tissue damage aside from a minor mcl strain. That’s the stuff that takes forever to recover, if it even can.
Overall if I had it to do over I would not recommend breaking my leg. :)