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Rainy day, rain all day
Ain't no use in gettin' uptight
Just let it groove its own way
Let it drain your worries away yeah
Lay back and groove on a rainy day hey
Lay back and dream on a rainy day
Lay back and groove on a rainy day
Lay back
Oh yeah !
So after a very dry summer we've had 2 days of rain (Monday and Tuesday) here it is Thursday and it's raining again, and it looks as if there is more to come. [sigh] While we certainly need the water in the system, it's a bit of a drag. Yet on the positive side maybe I can actually use this time to get some much needed work done instead of spending all my spare time (such as it is) outside. [wry grin]
The two big pieces of work I'm into now are adding a ton of new route info to the database on NEClimbs and a new tune of mine I'm trying to lay down in the studio. Both take a lot of time and solitary effort on my part. And both make me wish for more hours in the day to do them. Maybe if there was a way to slow down the spinning of the Earth so we add another 4 hours to our day...would that do what I need? Probably not. I'd just need more sleep, right? As it is I can't seem to get less than 7 hours of sleep a night or it catches up to me, and then I sleep for 8 for a couple of days. It all seems to balance out in the end.
That said, I did post a bunch of new routes and areas into the database earlier in the week. The new areas are Found Ledge and Bald Cap. Found Ledge is right off the Kanc and Bald Cap is up near Berlin. Both have a wide variety of climbing at a wide range of grades. You really should get out to both of these areas if you can. Found Ledge has a bunch of very nice friction climbs on the Little Slab and a whole bunch of hard crack and face climbs on the Lumberjack Wall. Two of the new routes on the Little Slab were put up by a grout including Judy and Joe Perez, Al Hospers and Brad White. The Lumberjack Wall was developed years ago and cleaned this spring by Jerry Handren and his friend Josh. Climb the easier slab routes and then throw a toprope on the Lumberjack to pump it out. With a moderate walk-in of only around 30 minutes it's a great place to spend the day.
Bald Cap also has a surprisingly moderate reasonable access for a back-country area. It affords you a few hard routes and a whole bunch of long alpine-style moderates in a fantastic location. Much, if not all, of the development at Bald Cap has been done by long time climber and master guide Paul Cormier and a few friends. Paul loves to climb in out of the way areas and always seems to find some cool stuff wherever he goes.
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
As I have mentioned in pervious reports there has been a bunch of work done recently at Humphrey's. Much of these are moderates and located on the Geriatric Walls, but a few are on the main cliff area. Thanks to George Hurley, Mike Khan, Chris Magnes and Chris Graham for their recent efforts. I'm pretty sure that there is more to come.
I just received a bunch of route information for Square Dock, the one over in Maine that is home to the back-country ice classic Big Science.. Hopefully I will get to that soon. Thanks to Dave Kelly for passing me this information. In addition there has been a ton of info posted on the NEClimbs forum about the development going on at Green's Cliff. Apparently there are a lot of new hard routes being put up out there on some fantastic granite. With any luck that info will be formatted and added into the database soon. As I started out saying, there's never a shortage of work to be done. It kind of reminds me of what it's like being a homeowner. But that's another story...
Good Music This Weekend:
If you like honky tonk and Texas Swing music, you must check out Jonathan Sarty and the White Mountain Boys this Saturday night from 8:30-11:30 at the Wildcat Tavern in Jackson. This is a great trio with Jonathan on vocals and acoustic guitar, Chuck O'Connor on steel guitar and myself on bass. I grew up playing this music and it's been wonderful to come back to it. IF you like the sound of steel guitar, definitely check out Chuck's playing. He is a real master of the instrument and genera.
The Last Man on the Mountain: The Death of an American Adventurer on K2
Friday, October 1; 7:00 p.m. | Admission Free
Jennifer Jordan, award-winning author, filmmaker, and screenwriter
In 1939, the Savage Mountain claimed its first victims. Among them was Dudley Francis Wolfe. Born into vast wealth, yet uneasy with a life of leisure, Wolfe of Boston and Rockport , Maine , set out to become the first man to climb K2 , the world’s second-highest mountain. Although close to middle age and inexperienced at high altitude, Wolfe and the team leader made it higher than any other members of the expedition. But he couldn’t get back down, and was abandoned at nearly 25,000 feet. It would be another sixty-three years before Jennifer Jordan would discover his skeletal remains. Jordan takes us on a journey from the yacht clubs of America and salons of Europe to the most forbidding landscape on earth. Book signing to follow.
Seating is limited. Passes are available in the Museum lobby beginning at 5:45 p.m. on October 1. Museum members may reserve a limited number of passes in advance. For more information: http://mos.org/adults. Admission is free thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute.
Bug Report:
A few mosquitoes are coming back, but nothing to get excited about
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.
