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August 18, 2022
Hi Folks,
It rained Wednesday afternoon, most of the night and most of Thursday. Fortunately it's been that fairly steady kind of rain that actually deposits some water in the ground, and we most certainly need it folks.
Last Friday afternoon I headed down to Wolfeboro in route to Rines Hill in Alton with the goal of climbing with my dear friend and partner, the octogenarian (87) George Hurley. Other than the drive from North Conway to Wolfeboro, Rines is only 6 miles from "downtown" Wolfeboro and a 15 minute walk from where you park the car. Hardly a huge investment in time or distance. [lol] I have been there many times, with and without George. Tho a very short route, it has a nice assortment of climbs at many grades. This time we climbed 5 routes on the middle-right side: Dike Step, Borderline, Layback, Groovy and Buddha. I led Buddha and Dike Step and we toproped the rest. I will admit to pulling on the draw at the start of Buddha. Sometimes I can get it, sometimes not. [go figure] George is a true force of nature and my idol...
Overall a great afternoon, followed by a good dinner with a nice bottle of red wine I picked up at Trader Joe's the week before. On my way home I stopped at a little ice cream shop on the left 4 miles out of Wolfeboro. Doggone it, life is not a whole lot better.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220818/DikeStep_1.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220818/DikeStep_2.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220818/BorderLine_1.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220818/BorderLine_2.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220818/LayBack.jpg
PS Ever the teacher, the BorderLine_2 picture is of George illustrating the exact move at the crux!
On August 21st I'll be at the New Hampshire Jazz Festival with both the Robert Ames Quintet and the Mike Levine Latin Quartet. This will be a great evening featuring all the best regional jazz musicians in a fantastic venue. If you like jazz, don't miss it. And I will be at the Majestic Cafe in Conway Village on Friday August 26th as a duo the fantastic NY based jazz pianist Alex Minasian starting at 7pm. It's a great month of excellent music.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220804/NHJazzFestival.jpg
Minimal bugs, other than the usual ticks & some mosquitoes.
The American Alpine Club is teaming up with CAMP Technical Adventure Equipment for the biggest gathering of NE climbers: the Rumney Craggin' Classic this September 16-18!
This 3-day grassroots festival features clinics led by professional climbers and local guides on topics ranging from intro to climbing outside, self-rescue, anchor building, and more. Get ready to dance to live music, get inspired, eat delicious local food, sip beverages, snag wicked good deals on gear, and make your corner of the Earth a little better by participating in a crag stewardship project! What makes these events truly exceptional is the community of passionate and friendly folks who show up to celebrate our shared vertical pursuits. So, whether you're new to clipping bolts or have been projecting routes for decades, we want to welcome you to the Rumney Craggin' Classic!
Spring 2022 marked the 42nd breeding season in the post-DDT recovery era for New Hampshire's peregrine falcon population. Once listed as federally endangered, and currently listed as state-threatened, NH's peregrines have been rebounding at a very gradual pace for many years. Some years – like the one just concluded – show notable increases, while other years are not as good. While NH's peregrine population hasn't shown as dramatic a recovery as NH's bald eagles, our breeding peregrines are an important part of a healthy regional population including both cliff-nesting and urban-nesting pairs.
In 2022, NH Audubon staff and volunteer falcon-watchers documented a record-setting breeding season for NH peregrines (see graph attached). We confirmed 27 territorial pairs, up one from a state record-high 26 found in 2021. One new falcon nest site was discovered at Band M Ledge in Albany this year (see photo). Statewide, we confirmed a record-high 24 incubating pairs (89% of territorial pairs), and a record-high 18 successful pairs (75% of those incubating) fledging at least one young each. A total of 47 young peregrines fledged in NH in 2022, exceeding the previous record-high of 43 set in 2018. Two NH nest sites (Cathedral Ledge (see photo) and Westmoreland Quarry) fledged 4 young each, but the real star of the show in 2022 was the Brady Sullivan Tower, where 5 young fledged (see photo), marking only the third time out of a total of 348 productive nests in NH since 1981 (<1% of all successful falcon nests) where we have documented 5 young peregrines fledged!
Part of the thrill of working with these raptors is the incredible places they nest, both in the mountains and in our urban landscapes, too. Volunteer Bob Vallieres has been monitoring peregrines for NH Audubon for over 25 years, and he has encountered them in some amazing spots in the White Mountains, including in Franconia Notch (see photo) and at Russell Crag (see photo) Lori Charron was lucky enough to see an aerial prey exchange between a locally-nesting adult and juvenile in Dixville Notch in July (see photo). Also in July, Nora Hanke encountered what was almost certainly Concord's single fledged young while she was birding at Horseshoe Pond near downtown.
Management activities at NH peregrine falcon breeding sites are supported by a federal State Wildlife Grant to the NH Fish and Game Department's Nongame Wildlife Program and by generous support of NH Audubon members and other individuals. As always, a massive "Thank You!" goes out to all those who support our ongoing NH peregrine falcon recovery efforts, including our partners at NH Fish and Game, those associated with other natural resource agencies, our corporate partners, private landowners, and many rock climbers and volunteer falcon-watchers.
A picture of where the peregrines nested this year at the recently reopened Band M Ledge in Albany.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220811/BandM.jpg
A graph that shows how successful the birds have been from 1980-2022.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220811/Audubon_Graph.jpg
In the Conway area there have been 50 new cases in the past 14 days, bringing the total to 3079! I personally know 2 people who have tested positive in the past week. It's all around us and you have to still be washing your hands, masking where appropriate and paying attention. As we've all seen in the news Jill Biden has tested positive. You have to figure that everyone around her is being cautious, but the virus hasn't gone away. For those unvaccinated, COVID is just as dangerous as it was 2 years ago. It's nothing to toy with. Of course I feel the same way about vaccinations as I do about seat belts and helmets. Why wouldn't I want to stack all the odds in my favor? Of course there are still a lot of folks who climb and ride motorcycles without one. I would surmise that those dying from a disease such as COVID might not be able to be organ donors, unlike motorcycle riders! [shrug]
New Hampshire:
3 New death(s) reported over past 5 days (1 week ago there were 7 over a 10 day period)
1,906 Active cases
103 Current hospitalizations being treated for COVID
2,640 Total deaths due to COVID-19
United States:
Confirmed: 93,278,387
Deaths: 1,039,027 (up almost 4,000!!!)
Global:
Confirmed: 593,403,643
Deaths: 6,446,012
The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracking map:
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map
I find JHU's Daily COVID-19 Data in Motion report to be very informative. It shares critical data on COVID-19 from the last 24 hours in a short 1 minute animated video format.
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/covid-19-daily-video
OUR ONLY WAY OUT IS IF YOU GET VACCINATED, WHERE RECOMMENDED PLEASE STILL WEAR A MASK, WASH YOUR HANDS!
REMEMBER - WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
I ride so many of the single track and downhill trails on a regular basis. Marshall, West side, east side, you name it. Some more technical than others, but all good fun. And then there are a few that I do less often, but are part of my summer and winter circuit. Sawyer River Road, Jefferson Notch Road, Bear Notch/Experimental Forest and Town Hall Road are all pretty moderate gravel rides, but all are really fun. And the nice thing is that all of these can be ridden almost immediately after it rains, unlike the downhill and single-track trails. The roots and rocks on New England single-track can be really slick and treacherous. Of course as dry as it's been, the gravel roads just soak up the rain really quickly. I've already done Jefferson earlier this spring and Sawyer a couple of times, so it's time to see if I can wedge in a Town Hall and Bear Notch ride. Maybe next week, amongst some other single track and downhill. So many places to ride, so little time. [wry grin]
Up on one of the Mount Washington Valley's finest crags and want to know what that climb you're looking at is? Or maybe you're on your way up from Boston and want to check out the Ice Report for your upcoming weekend plans. Or more likely, you're at work just want to daydream about your next adventure. Well if you have a smart phone handy, you can get to NEClimbs from anywhere you have cell service. While it doesn't offer every single feature of the site and it's not an "app", in mobile form, it does do a whole lot and is very useful. Here is the live link to the mobile version of NEClimbs:
http://www.neclimbs.com/mobile
Check it out and if you have issues on your specific phone, please feel free to let me know.
Join us and LIKE us on Facebook. I'll try and post interesting pix every Thursday and the latest Ice Report in the season, tho certainly not the whole Report. Here's where you can check it out:
http://www.facebook.com/NEClimbs/
Remember - climb hard, ride the steep stuff, stay safe and above all BE NICE,
Al Hospers
The White Mountain Report
North Conway, New Hampshire
| To qualify for mountain rescue work, you have to pass our test. The doctor holds a flashlight to your ear. If he can see light coming out the other one, you qualify. |
| Willi Pfisterer |
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