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April 28, 2005
Hi Folks,
Man am I ever sick
of the rain. Over the last week we've only had a couple of
sunny days. This is starting to remind me of the first year
we lived up here. It rained pretty much 3 weeks straight. You
know how bad it is when you throw the dog and cat outside and
they're back in less than 5 minutes! On top of that we have
had several flood watches. On Sunday the water came almost
to the top of 1st Bridge and did cover the road between 1st & 2nd
Bridges. Hussey Field flooded, the road was closed for several
hours, and the fire department moved a pumper over to this
side of the river so that they could cover any problems on
this side of the river. It made me feel good that they were
thinking proactively.
There have been a few nice days. The problems for climbing
is that when it stops raining, it's too wet to climb. Especially
when it's rained this much. It will be days before things dry
out after this. Fortunately it's not too wet to ride my road
bike and that's been the saving grace for me right now. Too
bad 'cause I had just gotten my head around the climbing season
starting..
Hurricane Mountain Road is not open quite yet. It's still got some snow and
ice as of Wednesday, tho should be much better after this rain. Bear Notch
Road opened on Wednesday afternoon and Passaconaway Road is open. The gate
on Evans Notch Road is open and the road itself should be open and passable
over weekend.
For those of you into road and mountain biking in the Whites, we have started
up a new site called, appropriately enough - NEBikes.com. It's based on the
same concept as NEClimbs and hopefully will achieve a similar following.
We will have a forum up and running shortly, as well as Ride Guides, reviews
and more. Check it out.
It was reported on NEClimbs that the pin anchor at the top of Upper Refuse
is gone again. This is a drag and I'd love to catch the person responsible,
but that's another topic... A friend went up on Coffin Nail a couple weeks
ago and found the last few bolts hammered down. They had to back off and
were able to do it without incident. That said, you always need to go into
climbing a route with the thought that the fixed gear you are anticipating
using MAY not be there. You never know what is going to happen, so be prepared.
On 4/18/2005, NH Audubon biologist Bob Vallieres verified that the peregrines
are incubating in a raven nest located on the far right side of the lower cliff
band atMount Willard, not too far from where they nested in 2003, in the general
vicinity of the "End of the Universe" climb. We are considering implementing
a partial closure around the nest site, but I still need to gather a little
more info on precise location of nest and location and volume of use of nearby
climbing routes before making a decision. I would appreciate your feedback
and suggestions.
On 4/21/2005, I verified that the peregrines are incubating
on the grassy ledge located at the center of the Painted Walls
cliff, a spot they have used frequently in past years. The
USFS staff at the Saco District will be posting temporary closure
of the cliff in the very near future. As usual, Rainbow Slabs
remains open.
On 4/21/2005, I verified that the peregrines are incubating
on the upside-down pine tree ledge located at the northern
end of Cathedral Ledge between "Repentence" and "Remission" climbing
routes, a spot they have used several times in the past. I
posted closure signs at the bottom and top of the cliff in
the vicinity of this area, and at the kiosk on the road at
the base of the cliff. Climbs to the right (north) of "Cathedral
Roof" and left (south) of "Diedre" are temporarily
closed.
A statewide listing of all NH sites with temporary restrictions will be issued
and circulated to climbing outlets and visitor center facilities within the
next 2 weeks. You can contact Chris directly for more questions.
Phone: 603/224-9909 x317; Fax: 603/227-0501;
E-mail: cmartin@nhaudubon.org; Web: www.nhaudubon.org <http://www.nhaudubon.org>
The Wall (Quechee, VT) and The Barn (Plymouth, NH), along with The Rumney Association
will be hosting this event. Everyone is welcome and it will be on rain or shine.
Tools and equiptment needed for the tasks will be provided.
Tenatively - April 30, 2005
Trail Work - 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
BBQ (in parking lot) 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Climbing 1:00 PM till dark and beyound
Contact Alex Herr if you want to help coordinate efforts.
Phone: 678-481-1955 or email at: aherr@mccarthy.com
Updated info is posted in the NEClimbs forum so check it out
there.
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
The best training was to go to the pub, drink 5 quarts of beer, and talk about climbing. |
Ron Fawcett |
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