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Sorry I've been late with some of my emails, but life has been very busy this summer. Tons of music gigs, climbing, riding, Boy Scout events, soldering new cables for the studio and believe it or not a bunch of actual WORK! What's a guy to do? [grin]
We all know that cliffs like Cannon and Pisgah are huge exfoliating onions. All you gotta do is to look at the huge talus field at the base! That said, for the most part we consider the cliffs here in our little Valley are more-or-less stable. That is in spite of that big talus field below the right side of the South Buttress that's conveniently hidden in the woods. [wry grin] To be sure, there have been some pretty good sized rock falls on Whitehorse, just in the almost 30 years I've been climbing here. The big ledge that fell off just right of Mistaken Identity, the flake that fell off next to Sea Of Holes and the huge black that fell down over Children's Crusade - making a mess of Beelzebub!
But then there is Cathedral and Humphrey's, both really stable, right? Well while it appears that there isn't a lot of talus below either of those crags, there certainly is a lot of small to mid size stuff laying around on the ground. When I was up at the start of the Saigon's recently I spotted a number of chunks of rock on the ground that were pretty clearly fresh. Almost every time I hike along the base of either of these cliffs I spot stuff like this. I was at Humphrey's a few years ago and actually saw a refrigerator sized block come out of the upper overlaps right of Macadamia! Fortunately these occurrences are rare enough and happen at times when people aren't rich there, so for the most part no one gets injured.
And then of course there the occasional incidents when someone pulls off some rock and it falls to the ground. Again this happens rarely, but it does take place. Apparently last week this took place on Cathedral. Early in the week I was taking a FaceBook break while working on my computer when a thread popped up from my friend Adam B. He said that there had just been a substantial rockfall over on Fun House. As we all know, this is a very popular trade-route on the cliff and it would be a drag of something happened to it! Surprisingly I hadn't heard anything, even tho had the screen door open in my office on the cliff side. So I got up, grabbed a hiking pole and camera and headed over to have a look-see.
I was surprised as I hiked up to the base of the climb that I didn't see any rocks on the ground. There was even a party on the first pitch! I asked them if they had seen anything, but they had not. [hmmm] I decided too walk down the other way, by the kiosk, and who did I see sitting at the picnic tables playing chess with his buddy Jason, but Adam! I asked about the rock. They said they heard it and it was pretty big and loud. They had also walked over to check it out and thought that it had knocked over a tree on the upper ledge. I didn't go back over to check on that. Later that day I heard from another friend that they had been climbing on Black Crack, up near Upper Refuse, and someone had knocked a large rock off on Retaliation. It would have had to be a pretty big rock to go all the way down that upper ledge and down over Fun House. FWIW The people climbing Black Crack never heard a call of ROCK or any alert at all!
Anyway, as we all know, things happen. It is a good thing no one was right there on that very popular route when the rock came down. Had it been on a Saturday afternoon, it could have been a disaster! When it comes down to it, it's kind of surprising that there aren't more incidents like this. For me it's one more reason to wear a helmet! (I know, I know, I just had to get that one in!) Anyway, we do participate in a dangerous sport, both from the dangers our own climbing entails, as well as stuff that "just happens". I guess that's a part of the attraction. [grin]
Climb safe-
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
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE For Me:
Petzl is running a photo contest running right and I entered one. If you have a minute and like my picture, I'd appreciate your vote. The winner gets to go on a Roc Trip with the Petzl crew for 45 days. This would be a real gas...
PS - the header of this topic is a sideways reference to a political tune that I wrote with a friend years ago, in the election when the elder Bush was running for President. You can hear it here -
See if you can figure out all the sample clips. Enjoy
Instant Bug Report - 5:
Still at 5, tho it I hope it will be dropping 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.
