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As much as I love turkey sandwiches. I'm getting kind of tired of 'em. The only problem is that there's still turkey left to eat. And don't talk about turkey soup, turkey pie or turkey casserole, we've had 'em all. Let me tell you, I'm ready for a good old hamburger. The weather is like that for me. after months of summer, I'm ready for winter; and after months of ice season, I'm ready for spring rock. The only problem is that we haven't had enough of any one thing this past month for me to get tired of it. Go figure...
I gotta say that this past week has really been quite a mess. Sure we had a big dump of snow last week, and it was sure fun to drag out the xc-skis and ski down Cathedral Ledge Road and all around through the woods behind the cliffs, all the way to Whitehorse. That was a gas. But pretty quickly it warmed up and started to melt off. Monday and Tuesday we had temps in the 50's for a couple of days on end, and then we had rain on Tuesday! The whole day was very damp and then when I was over in Jackson playing music at the Wildcat Tavern that night it started coming down. By 10PM it was pouring and temps were in the mid-40's. It rained almost all night, dumping about 1.5 inches here in the Valley. Needless to say, with all the snow still on the ground and the memory of Irene still fresh in out minds, everyone was worried about flooding. Wednesday morning the Saco was full and roaring. The field behind the trees on the Ledge side of River Road was flooded and the swampy areas were filling up again. I took a bike ride around town, coming back on the north side of West Side Road and the Ellis and all the other small feeder streams were pretty full too. Fortunately we dodged a bullet, and it wasn't as bad as it could have been. WHEW!
That said, almost all the snow is gone, and I don't just mean in the Valley either. It's gone everywhere, even much of it in the higher elevations. Looking up onto the Presi's, things look pretty bare up there. There is very little snow left in the woods, except in places where it was hiked on and packed down, and things have dried out a lot. I think that most of the upper mountain bike trails are probably good to go - who would thunk?
I know it's November and everything is a crap-shoot, but after the 2+ feet of snow we've gotten this month, I had some hopes - especially for this second round of white stuff! Some folks have managed to get in some ice climbing here and there, you've probably seen the pictures. For me I've been holding out for something I can feel reasonably comfortable climbing on. Someone told me about some folks climbing on Odell's the other day and having the whole right side let go, while they were on the other side. Sorry folks, that's not something I'm interested in.
I guess I'm just gonna have to get back on the bike again and see if it's dry enough for some late season rock this weekend. You have to keep your eyes out to make sure that there isn't any snow/ice still left above where you're climbing, just like in the early spring, but the slabs should be doable. It's going to be a bit on the cool side, but I think I can manage it. Sticks And Stones and Sea Of Holes are looking pretty good to me right now!
2011/2012 NECLIMBS FUNDRAISER:
It's always been difficult for me ask for money from the Report subscribers and NEClimbs.com participants, yet here I am doing it again. I've been putting out the Report consistently since 1998, and I even have almost all of the Reports archived from as far back as September of 1999! As best I remember I think that the site started up in 2003 and I think it's come a long way in that time. The Forum is pretty darn popular and the Route Guide section is used all the time. Currently we're averaging over 1300 unique visits a day and over 1.2 million monthly "hits". Not too shabby for a little local site. Heck, even folks putting together new guidebooks make sure to check NEClimbs for the latest information.
I'm sure you have noticed that there has been a facelift to the NEClimbs site recently. It has been part of an internal reorganization to make it more efficient. Hopefully you finite attractive. Additionally, this fall I put together a smart-phone friendly version of the site for those of you who have an Android, iPhone or the equivalent. If you have a web connection it lets you access the most useful areas on the site, right from your phone's browser, in a format that it is designed to be viewed on a small screen. Even I've found it useful when I've been out climbing and wanted to check on a particular route. It's not a full-blown app, but hey - it's free!
There is also a forum reader/editor available through TapaTalk to allow you to read and post on the NEClimbs forum without going through your browser interface. I use it for several music forums that I am involved on and it works great. Like most apps it's cheap, and it works really well. If you have a smart-phone you should check it out.
After all these years, I'm still only asking that you contribute a $20 annual donation. That's certainly less than half of your Cable bill, so it shouldn't really make much of a dent. [wry grin] If you can please take just a minute to support NEClimbs and The White Mountain Report you can do ON LINE via PayPal. It's easy & painless and you can use pretty much any credit card. Simply click the link below and make a contribution.
Of course you can also contribute via check or money order for $20 OR make your contribution. Just make out a check or money order to NEClimbs and send it here:
NEClimbs
92 Bow Lane
North Conway, NH 03860
As always, the expenses of the running the site and putting out The White Mountain Report go on. Hopefully you will find it useful enough to make a contribution. PLEASE REMEMBER, it's your contribution that makes this newsletter and the NEClimbs web site possible.
Thank you once again for your support...
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
A Computer-Related Heads Up:
What with all the holiday purchases and shipping going back and forth right now, there is also a lot of malware filling the email-waves these days. A good friend got an email purporting to be from UPS with an attachment that was supposed to be a delivery-acknowledgment. When he opened it, it completely trashed his computer! He and his wife had let their antivirus protection lapse and so nothing caught it before it did it's bad deeds and they lost everything! Just be careful and be sure not to open things you aren't absolutely sure you know what they are. Even then, be very aware. The same thing goes for general web surfing. You never know what you're going to find out 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:
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.
