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I must say, it's tough to write about what's going on up here, when everywhere I look there are images of real destruction. First-off I do want to let everyone know that, unlike what happened with Irene, the North Country has pretty much escaped Sandy unscathed. Sure - the rivers rose and we had some winds, but overall we dodged the bullet. As everyone knows by now, New York and New Jersey caught the brunt of the storm. I still have family and friends in the City, and fortunately they are all OK in spite of just how bad things got. I hope any of you in that area are OK. Then of course there's the huge snow-dump that Sandy dropped on the mid-Atlantic states. While a real pain for them, honestly we would have been happy to have the snow up here. Instead, until this morning we've had unseasonably warm weather. Oh well, we'll have our turn at winter soon enough.
Last weekend was fairly nice one for climbing, too bad I got hung up in work, getting ready for the pending storm, kiddo duty and other stuff. I only got in a couple of hours on the bike on Sunday before the storm came in. I look at the bike time as training for all that winter hiking in to ice climbs. [grin] Unfortunately, now that I do have time to get out, everything is completely and totally soaked. I took a hike around Whitehorse today with a friend just to get out for a bit. It was running water and soggy pretty much everywhere we went. I often scramble up or down through the little gully left of Cold Day In Hell, but it was so wet I didn't even want to try it. Still, it was a great little hike, and after the past several damp and dreary days, it was wonderful to see the sun occasionally peaking through here and there. Of course that didn't really keep huge water streaks from appearing all over the Whitehorse slabs. Now if we can just get a few warm sunny days to dry things out!
Reel Rock Film Tour:
I went to see this tonight and I have to say it was AMAZING!!!!! If you get the opportunity to see these films I highly recommend them. They are all good, but I particularly liked the ones about The Shark Fin and Alex Honnold. DO NOT miss this if it comes near you. Thanks so much to Sarah Garlick, AAC Regional Coordinator for putting this together.
Ice Conditions Report:
Selected Ice Conditions effective February 19, 2026
Just as you would expect following Ice Fest AND a week of truly balmy temps, going to be upper 30's today, the ice can be a mixed bag. I saw someone post about how things are terrible. But digging into it, I realized they were talking about places like the North End that are very well used. It probably gets the most use of all. There are only a few places that have really easy access to moderate climbing and where you can set up a bunch of top-ropes. So that's not unexpected. And of course the climbs that are getting a lot of full sun are getting somewhat punked-out. On my way back from Wolfeboro mid-afternoon a few days ago I took a look at Rainbow Slabs which look as if they are getting pretty funky. And I watched a hunk of the bottom of Way In The Wilderness fall down! IMO it's really the time to start paying attention to what you're walking underneath, any time of the day. Enjoy this weather, but keep paying attention...
Huntington Ravine
numerous options
Repentance
iffy
Standard Route
GREAT conditions
Dracula
IN & very fat
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
20th Anniversary Mt. Washington Valley Ice Festival:
Believe it or not, you should be putting Ice Fest 2012 on your calendar. This year it's this February 1-3. Plans are already afoot and you can read about them here - http://icefest.blogspot.com/. If I were you I'd get your hotel accommodations in place 'cause this is going to be a big one!
Instant Ice Report:
It got warmer with the storm, but temps will be back to seasonal this weekend and it looks as if we'll be having cold nights again and ice forming in the upper elevations soon.
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.
