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I was up kind of last night (Wednesday), 'till about 12:30. At 2AM almost on the dot my wife and I were awakened by an incredible noise that seemed to rock the house, followed by an absolute deluge. The sound was so loud and so singular that she thought that it was a major rockfall on Cathedral Ledge, which is only about 500 yards from our back door! Needless to say it took a while for us to get back to sleep.
When I got up at around 8 and was waiting for my coffee to brew I looked at the weather station and realized that between midnight and 8:15 AM we'd gotten 1.3 inches of rain! I couldn't see the cliff for the fog so I called around to see if another friend who lives closer had heard anything. They responded that they had heard the same thing but they didn't think it had been rockfall. As the morning went on I heard from several other folks that lived miles away, saying that they had also been woken up by what we knew now was thunder. By mid-day we got several other heavy showers, adding another half inch or more to the total. No doubt the Saco and surrounding rivers and streams have risen precipitously.
Later in the day I've heard reports of very severe weather in the Southern part of the state. A friend sent me a link to a picture posted on WMUR that looked an awful lot like a tornado and there was a lot of weather related damage in Epsom including a house collapse. I don't know if this is hugely worse than other summers, but in the almost 11 years we have lived up here I can't remember having this many storms in July. It's getting very tiresome and I hope that we have a drier August and September. It's getting hard to write about climbing when it's so wet I can't get out there to do any. This is getting OLD folks!
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
Joseph P. Ostroski, 91, died July 21, 2008 at his home in North Conway following a sudden illness. He was born in Pueblo, Colorado on Nov. 17, 1916 and spent most of his early life in Greenfield, Mass. He was a 1934 graduate of Greenfield High School. While working as a lineotype operator at the Greenfield Recorder Gazette, Joe’s avid interest in the outdoors and skiing led him to be a founder and early president of the Edelweiss Ski Club in Greenfield, and the founder of the Ostro Ski School at Chickley Alp in Charlemont, Mass. The mountains of the “Eastern Slopes Region” brought Joe to North Conway to continue his trade at the Reporter Press in 1947, where he worked until his retirement in 1979. He continued his skiing interest by working part time on the Cranmore Mt. Ski Patrol, and was a long time member of Carroll County Fish and Game Club, the Eastern Slope Lodge BPOE in Conway, the North Conway Camera Club, Mt. Washington Valley Ski Club, and a member of the 70+ Ski Club and was active as a Boy Scout leader for Troop 150. Climbing and hiking overtook skiing interest. He formed the first climbing school in North Conway, the Mount Washington Valley School of Climbing, in the late 60’s, and spent many happy days in the Cascades of Washington, the Colorado Rockies and the Alps of France and Switzerland, besides completing the AMC’s 4000 Footers. When his legs could no longer carry him to higher summits, he continued with his adventures by traveling to some of the more remote places on the planet: the Antarctic Peninsula, Africa, China, Russia, besides travels to Greece, Iceland, Scandinavia and many trips to Poland. His wife Blanche of 48 years predeceased him in 1994. He is survived by a son, Philip Ostroski, daughter-in-law Ann Ostroski, grandchildren Sophia and Peter Ostroski, all of Intervale, and several nieces and nephews from Massachusetts to California. There will be a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 AM on Friday, July 25 at our Lady of the Mountains in North Conway. There will be no visiting hours. The Furber and White Funeral Home in North Conway is in charge of the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society.
BUG REPORT:
Not too many bugs, but that's probably going to change after this last round of rain. Bring the bug dope & consider yourself happy if you don't need it.
Come Party At The Wildcat::
If you are up here this weekend swing by the Wildcat Tavern in Jackson on Friday or Saturday night. My band Sounds Clever & The Valley Horns will be holding court on Friday & Saturday from 8:30 - 11:30. Great food, cold drinks and good music. I hope to see you there.
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:
Remember - climb hard, ride the steep stuff, stay safe and above all BE NICE,
Al Hospers
The White Mountain Report
North Conway, New Hampshire
Naked male sport climbers? No! I want naked male trad hogs! Pushing 50 or over, very hairy chest and back, front tooth missing (no dental insurance), wrinkled yellow toenail fungus, sunburnt dome with long gray ponytail (sparse curls will do), fingers the size of Polish sausages, torn-off nipples due to offwidth damage... Now there's a man, an image to behold, every climber chick's dream. And when he says: 'Hey, honey, wanna do the DNB?' you just melt into a heap of adoring lard.
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.
