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One summer, when I was a young pup, I found a Readers Digest Condensed Book in my grandparents house containing an account by Edmund Hillary about his and and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay's first ascent of Mt. Everest. I must have read it a half dozen times that summer, totally captured by the story. In spite of all the climbing I do and have done, I'm not an alpinist. I made the decision about 20 years ago that the risks simply weren't acceptable for me personally. That said, I do follow what's going on in the big mountains around the world. These past several days have been very eventful on the big mountain, perhaps at least as much so as the infamous 1996 and 2006 tragedies. Here's some of things that have been happening:
Russell Brice, owner of Himalayan Experience one of the prominent guide services on the mountain, decided that it wasn't safe and cancelled his expedition -
Boston Hiker's Body Finally Recovered:
Norman Priebatsch, 67, of Boston, lost his footing and fell into a crevasse while hiking with his son on April 1. Crews immediately began searching for him, but the search was suspended after conditions became too treacherous. Officials found Priebatsch's body Sunday inside the crevasse on Tuckerman Ravine.
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
New Guidebook Finally Available:
Jerry Handren's long-awaited new guidebook for rock climbing in the Mount Washington Valley and vicinity has finally come out. I haven't been able to get one in my own hands, but reports are that it is quite well done. You can get it at local climbing shops, Amazon or on his web sitter here:
Instant Bug Report:
If I were you, and of course I'm not, I'd bring that bug-dope stuff with you if you're planning on being in the woods now. Or maybe even if you're going to be on the cliff! The mosquitoes are bad, the black flies are pretty bad and there are lots of ticks out there! You've been warned...
Peregrine Closings:
Wildlife biologists and volunteers in New Hampshire work very hard to identify the specific nesting locations used by theses state-listed Threatened raptors as early in the Spring season as possible, and to develop temporary closures that accomplish our Peregrine Falcon management objectives with minimal impact to recreational climbers and hikers.
This 2012 seasonal closures in New Hampshire are as follows:
Cathedral Ledge (part of upper left only), Bartlett, NH
Eagle Cliff (Spire area OPEN!), Franconia, NH
Frankenstein (lower south-facing wall), Harts Location, NH
Holts Ledge, Lyme, NH
Owls Head (right end only), Benton, NH
Painted Walls, Albany, NH
Rumney Rocks (Main Cliff), Rumney, NH
Square Ledge, Albany, NH
Woodchuck Ledge (upper right only), Albany, NH
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.