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It's been a heck of a week, that's for sure. Lots of work on getting the house ready for winter, the election and now the little Nor'easter that couldn't - at least not up here in the White's! It was quite cold the early part of the week, with temps not getting out of the upper 30's for several days. I rode my bike over to vote on Tuesday and it was 34 when I got back. Then I had to drop the Prius off to get the windshield repaired on Wednesday morning, and it was 25 on the way how! That's pretty chilly on a bike, let me tell you! We know winter is here since we started up the wood stove on Monday and it's barely been off since.
Of course all that cold is good news for building ice. It's been a busy week for that as well. Yale Gully was climbed over the weekend, the Black Dike on election day and then Shoestring on Wednesday. Of course none of this was anything near to being what any rational person would call IN. Blobs of ice, interspersed with rock and occasional semi-frozen turf is more like it. Still, for some it is really good fun. I do like to climb early season ice, but I generally wait 'till I can get a good stick and I'm not sure that is the case right yet. That said, I feel pretty confident that we'll have reasonably climbable ice somewhere by Thanksgiving, unless the weather does something weird. At least that's my hope.
I took the first drive of the ice season up into the Notch this morning, for giggles. The first thing I noticed was that it seems as if the DOT is finally starting work on replacing the bridge that has been out since Irene. That's a pretty cool thing, and about time. Tho there wasn't anything close to climbable ice, there WAS ice on almost everything.
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
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!
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
Wilderness /n./ archaic word used to refer to the space that once existed between urban areas and which is now used as a proving ground for 4-wheel drive vehicles.
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.
