Your knee can handle the first six miles of the trail into Wind River's Cirque, but the last six miles will require Black Diamond's Alpine FLZ Trekking Poles. These poles fold into three sections so you can strap them to your backpack for the flat part, and Black Diamond's SlideLock secures the poles so they don't collapse on you midstep. FlickLock adjustments let you lengthen or shorten each pole to tackle various degrees of steepness, and both the tips and baskets are interchangeable for powder baskets if you want to take these poles skiing.