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There are a ton of reasons to be thankful at this time of year. For myself
I am truly thankful that I have a loving family, a comfortable and warm house,
a type of work that pays me a living wage and that I enjoy doing, and of course
the time to do the various things that make life worth living. I am very thankful
for my health and general happiness as well, for without both I wouldn't be
able to enjoy the good things my life has to offer. But I am also thankful
for all of the climbers, friends and sponsors who make the Report and NEClimbs
possible. Without your consideration, this newsletter and web site would not
be possible. Happy Thanksgiving to all...
This was our best Fundraiser ever, with over 180 individuals participating.
The winners of this year's Fundraiser Raffle have been determined and the results
are posted in the General Climbing section on NEClimbs. Congratulations to
all the winners. Here they are again:
Steven Gabis - "Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills"
John Hazell - Nalgene water bottle
Rahul Dave - "Ice Climbers Guide to Northern New England"
Jim Wahl - "New England Bouldering"
Douglas Huntley - Nalgene water bottle
Cris Brady - Accidents In North American Mountaineering 2005
Richard Miller - Nalgene water bottle
Tom Aldcroft - Boston Rocks 2nd Edition
Robert MacKinnon - Boston Rocks 2nd Edition
Simon Peffers - Nalgene water bottle
Shawn Higbee - American Alpine Journal 2005
Christo Angelov - Nalgene water bottle
Tom Stryker - 2006 Colorado Fourteeners Calendar
Michael Dunn - Yates Shortie Screamer
Robert Insolia - Nalgene water bottle
Robert Clark - Petzl Duo LED 5 Headlamp
Joseph Melim - 8 mm 60-meter Sterling tag line
Emails went out to winners Monday afternoon and some of you have responded
already. If you are a winner and have not received an email, please contact
me directly. Thanks again to everyone who made a donation and to the various
entities and individuals who donated prizes including: BackCountry.com, Richard
Doucette, Sterling Rope, Bob Pugh and the Mountaineers Books.
Besides supporting the Report and NEClimbs this year many of you have chosen
to help in other ways. An early-season ice climbing accident last year precipitated
a drive to place several rescue caches at Lake Willoughby. Boston AMC Mountaineering
Committee President Richard Doucette spearheaded the efforts, even getting
permission from the Vermont State Park, as the cliff is on state land. Special
thanks goes to fellow climber and friend David Powers who built the enclosures
for the litter and organized getting them up to the cliff and installed. In
the process of organizing these efforts a new climbers organization has come
together, The Northeastern Vermont Climber's Alliance. This is great news and
we welcome the organization and wish them all the best. Here is an announcement
about the Cache and their formation...
Rescue Cache At Lake Willoughby:
This past Sunday, nine volunteers installed a first aid litter at the base
of the cliffs on Mount Pisgah. The shelter and rescue sled were hiked in,
and installed in the woods between Left Tablet and Zephyr/Crazy Diamond ice
routes. A second cache is in the works, and will be put in the vicinity of
The Last Gentleman amphitheater.
The rescue sled, and the materials for the shelter were purchased with donations
made by climbers from all over the Northeast, organized by Massachusetts climber
Richard Doucette. The fundraising covered the cost of two litters, materials
to build shelters to house them, and modest first aid supplies for each.
The rescue caches and shelters will be maintained by the Northeastern Vermont
Climber's Alliance, a fledgling organization still working on a mission statement,
but generally looking to advocate for climbers and maintain climbing resources
in the Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Thanks to all who helped make the rescue
cache a reality! Look for more news and good things from NEVCA soon.
-Matthew Elliott
Many of you contributed money, time, and supplies to the cache project. Richard
did an amazing job pulling all of this together and making it happen. I am
once more impressed with his drive and organizational skills. Great
Kudos go
to him!
Richard also suggested that I recognize those who donated to the Lake Willoughby
Rescue Litter Fund. He provided me with a list and here 'tis -
Olga Mirkina
Alexi Maznev
Susan Ruff
Dave Warriner
Mark Renson
Bill Atkinson
Harrison Shulman
Al Hospers
Perrin Prescott
Patrick Cryan
Silvia Monticelli
Dave Yee
Anonymous
Jen Reed
Oliver & Sharon LeBras
Gregory Leach
Lawrence Leef
Rick Abbot
Tom Boydston
Tom Carey
John Burton
Travis Piper
Rick Buirkle
John Beatty
Betty Oser
Ken Parker & Candice Boyd
Boris Dynkin
Theodore Paul Streibert
Jim Schroeder
Mark Thompson
Dan Beausoleil
Robert Ahern
Pam Frank
Ed Verosko
AMC Boston Chapter Mountaineering Committee
Dennis Maher
Leslie Coquette
Dartmouth Outing Club
Seth Green
Yuki Fujita
Bob Wadja
Chris Dube
Dan Cousins
Wilderness Medical Associates
Akiko Kawai
Tom Carey
Doug Huntley
Sam Morton, Sterling Ropes
Rick Wilcox, IME
It is a great thing when a group of people come together to support something
like this. I am truly proud of what has been done here and personally congratulate
you all and Richard for a job very well done.
Ice Conditions Report:
Selected Ice Conditions effective March 21, 2024
I can't actually say that there is nothing out there that can't be climbed. That would be foolish. But for the average, or a little above average climber, that's probably correct. That said, I did hear that there is climbable ice on Parasol in Dixville Notch. Not sure how that will be after we get a foot of heavy wet snow on Saturday. Regardless, here's a few pix I took today just to document things.
Huntington Ravine
AVALANCHE
Repentance
OUT
Standard Route
OUT
Dracula
OUT
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
Southern California Fixed Anchor Ban:
Last year the Access Fund issued an action alert to climbers and drafted comments
for revisions to a forest plan revision in the San Bernardino National Forest
in Southern California that proposed to ban fixed anchors in wilderness.
With a major assist from Randy Vogel and other southern California locals,
climbers succeeded in removing the proposed ban from the final plan. In September,
the San Bernardino National Forest announced that two sentences in the draft
plan proposing a ban on fixed anchor bolts for rock climbing caused a deluge
of comments from the climbing community, including climbers in Switzerland
and Australia! After further study and coordination, the
Southern California Fixed Anchor Ban:
Last year the Access Fund issued an action alert to climbers and drafted comments
for revisions to a forest plan revision in the San Bernardino National Forest
in Southern California that proposed to ban fixed anchors in wilderness.
With a major assist from Randy Vogel and other southern California locals,
climbers succeeded in removing the proposed ban from the final plan. In September,
the San Bernardino National Forest announced that two sentences in the draft
plan proposing a ban on fixed anchor bolts for rock climbing caused a deluge
of comments from the climbing community, including climbers in Switzerland
and Australia! After further study and coordination, the Forest chose to
drop the proposed standard and tier to forthcoming Forest Service fixed anchor
national direction. Rock climbing is suitable in all zones. The Access Fund
continues to work with US Forest Service officials in Washington, DC regarding
a national policy that could be finalized next year which acknowledges the
legitimacy of new fixed anchor placements in designated wilderness areas.
Tucks Pictures On Wednesday:
Brad's in blue, I am in orange. You can get a pretty good view of the state-o-the-ice
in the center of the headwall and the open book area. We simul-soloed up the
ramp on the left side of the book, continued straight up for a ways, traversed
left, climbed the large ice slab near the center of the bowl, downclimbed it
and then wandered down and back to our packs near the book. Absolutely great
early-season fun.
You can get a pretty good view of the state-o-the-ice
in the center of the headwall and the open book area. We simul-soloed up the
ramp on the left side of the book, continued straight up for a ways, traversed
left, climbed the large ice slab near the center of the bowl, downclimbed it
and then wandered down and back to our packs near the book. Absolutely great
early-season fun.
Mobile Version Of NEClimbs:
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:
Check it out and if you have issues on your specific phone, please feel free to let me know.
NEClimbs & White Mountain Report On Facebook:
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:
Climbing is a very dangerous sport. You can get hurt or even kill yourself. When you go climbing, you do so of your own free will. Everything on this site is to be taken with a grain of salt. Don't blame us if you get up some totally heinous route, in over your head and fall and hurt yourself.
