October 7, 2004

Hi Folks,

Well the north-country has passed it's big annual milestone this week. That's right, we've had the first hard-freeze of the season. It was 26 degrees here at Cathedral Ledge this Wednesday morning! While we aren't a full peak here in the Valley for the leaf-peeping community, we will be in a matter of days. An inviting whiteness of rime-ice has been spotted in Franconia Notch & on top of Canon. If that doesn't get your juices flowing, I don't know what will. Of course it won't be there for very long at this time of year, but it certainly is a precursor to things to come.

No matter what anyone says, I've come to the conclusion that it's pretty much impossible to predict the quality of any given ice season. I've heard all kinds of theories as to what makes a good season happen. Some seem to make a lot of sense, but only once we're already IN the season. No one I know has come up with a way to predict how it's going to be. That said, it really doesn't matter. Unless we have some sort of major global warming that totally keeps the ice from forming at all, there will be plenty of ice to do. If you look at the history of ice climbing in New England, the fact is that there hasn't been ice forming for the last 30 years like it did in the 70's. Look at the pictures of Fang, Repentance and The Myth in Peter Lewis' guidebook. When was the last time you saw those climbs in those kind of conditions? Not in the 20 years that I've been hanging out around here, that's for sure! Of course that hasn't kept folks from doing any of those climbs, and a lot more. Standards have risen with new tools and better protection, and there is plenty of stuff to climb at almost any grade.

Whitehorse Accident:
There was an accident on Standard Route on the Whitehorse slabs Wednesday afternoon. Apparently leader Mike Grumbach from Westford, Mass. fell on the Brown Spot and broke or seriously sprained his ankle. According to Brian Abrams of NH Fish & Game, Grumbach fell about 15' above his last piece, taking a 30' fall. 5 members of the local Mountain Rescue Service including Dave Kelly and Craig Taylor of EMS and Brad White and Zeb Jakub of IMCS aided in bringing the injured climber and his partner down. The accident took place at about 4:15 and the rescue was completed by 6:45. The folks from our local Mountain Rescue Service R U L E !!!!! There is no one like them. Great work guys.

The Fundraiser's Last Week:
Once again we have ADDED another prize to out donor-raffle. This time it's a copy of the latest Accidents In North American Mountaineering. Get your contribution in BY OCTOBER 15th and be automatically entered in a raffle for these GREAT PRIZES:

A brand new Charlet Moser ice screw
Three brand new snow pickets from an anonymous donor
Robert Frost's acclaimed climbing DVD, "Auto Road"
"An Ice Climbers Guide to Northern New England" by Lewis & Wilcox
Tim Kemple's "New England Bouldering" guidebook
Anderl Heckmair's climbing autobiography "My Life"
A copy of the latest issue of Accidents In North American Mountaineering
Peter Lewis' great topo map/guide to Whitehorse Ledge

This collection value is over $250 folks!!!!

The drawing will be held on October 21st, 2004 and winners will be notified in that week's Report. Your donation must be postmarked or received by PayPal before October 15, 2004 to be entered. It's a perfect opportunity to support NEClimbs, and a great chance to win a useful prize.

This is the last week of the annual fundraiser that keeps NEClimbs and the White Mountain Report crankin'. To date we've had a total of 75 individual contributions to our efforts. I want to thank each and every one of you who has made the effort to support us. Without your support there would simply be no way to justify the expense and effort required to make this work.

The White Mountain Report subscriber list totals over 660 members. The NEClimbs web site gets over 500 UNIQUE VISITS per day. 11% of the White Mountain Report subscribers have made a contribution. Whie that's not terrible by non-profit standards, we had hoped for more from a dedicated and highly-motivated small base such as this.

Your $20 contribution, actually only 38 CENTS per WEEK, helps assure that the White Mountain Report and NEClimbs are there when you want them. While we COULD send the Report to only those who pay, or restrict access to NEClimbs so that only paid subscribers could access the Route database, the Weather Station, the Forum and the Webcam we would prefer not to do that. Of course there are lots of models to help ensure we get compensated for the effort that goes into all of this. But all of it smacks too much like copy-protection on software, and we rejected that 10 years ago when we were running a software company! since December of 2000 we've provided the White Mountain Report and NEClimbs.com as a FREE service to the New England climbing community. Your contribution to this fundraiser can ensure that we can continue to do so, AND that we continue to enhance and develop it's offerings.

Please don't wait to make your contribution and please DON'T assume that someone else will pick up the slack. YOU'RE on the mailing list! YOU'RE reading it right now! Sit down today and send us a check or money order for at least $20. Or make your contribution ON-LINE via PayPal by clicking here. It's easy & painless and you can use your credit card. Remember, you DON"T need to have a PayPal account to use this service. We aren't asking for a lot. A minimal $20 donation isn't a lot for all the great information provided every single week.

Make out a check for $20 to NEClimbs or donate via PayPal. We'll appreciate WHATEVER you can afford. Make out your check or money order to NEClimbs and send it to:

NEClimbs
92 Bow Lane
North Conway, NH 03860

A VERY SPECIAL THANKS go out to all of those who have already contributed. The Donations list contains the names of all of those who have contributed as a part of the 2004/2005 fundraiser as well as the up to date corporate sponsors.

IS YOUR NAME ON THE LIST?

Roadwork Slowdowns:
If you are planning on climbing up here over the upcoming Columbus Day holiday, be aware that there is significant road work going on in the area. A large ongoing project is taking place on the Kanc just below Bear Notch Road that is requiring stops, sometimes for as long as 10 minutes. In addition, the 2nd Bridge on River Road in North Conway remains under construction. One or the other lanes is always being stopped and at times traffic is backed up 30-40 cars in either direction. Couple that with the leaf peepers and traffic is pretty intense right now. If you need to meet someone or are planning things with a schedule, be sure to factor in some extra time for these bottlenecks or avoid them altogether.

Selected Ice Conditions effective February 19, 2026
Just as you would expect following Ice Fest AND a week of truly balmy temps, going to be upper 30's today, the ice can be a mixed bag. I saw someone post about how things are terrible. But digging into it, I realized they were talking about places like the North End that are very well used. It probably gets the most use of all. There are only a few places that have really easy access to moderate climbing and where you can set up a bunch of top-ropes. So that's not unexpected. And of course the climbs that are getting a lot of full sun are getting somewhat punked-out. On my way back from Wolfeboro mid-afternoon a few days ago I took a look at Rainbow Slabs which look as if they are getting pretty funky. And I watched a hunk of the bottom of Way In The Wilderness fall down! IMO it's really the time to start paying attention to what you're walking underneath, any time of the day. Enjoy this weather, but keep paying attention...
	Huntington Ravine	numerous options
	Repentance	iffy
	Standard Route	GREAT conditions
	Dracula	IN & very fat
For the full current conditions report, CLICK HERE

Remember - climb hard, ride the steep stuff, stay safe and above all BE NICE,