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As always, just when you think that Spring has Sprung, Ma Nature puts you in your place. After having some absolutely beautiful days this week, we reverted to winter overnight and this morning. We woke up to a dusting of snow, probably 1/4 inch here win the Valley and as much as 1” of powder higher in the Notches. Temps are in the mid-20’s, but the wind is really howling. I’ve seen gusts here at the ledges up as high as 25-30 mph, putting the wind chill at 14-10! I had thought about climbing something on Willard this morning, but after seeing it blowing up there while I was taking pics, I’m glad that reconsidered. I might go for a ride in the woods later today so I can stay out of the wind.
I spotted a large group at Willie’s this morning and I felt a bit sorry for them. I’ve been up there many times on days like this or colder and frankly it looked like full-conditions. I just hope they had their puffy jackets and goggles. Check out the obviously swirling winds -
Speaking of spring, the warmth may give a much needed lift to the state of the ice. I’m seeing a lot of melting, and while it’s not so good for some things, it can provide a refresh to all the stuff that’s getting sun-baked. Of course those that are in the full sun all day won’t make it very long. Diagonal and a lot of the Mordor ice came down yesterday and I don’t think I would want anything to do with Repentance or Remission. In fact I wouldn’t walk anywhere near any of that.
As you likely know I’ve really gotten into my new fat tire bike this winter. It’s a great thing to keep my fitness up this time of year and make sure I’m going to be able to jump right back into the MTB season, once the snow is off the trails. Some of my friends who are into it have been mentioning interesting places to ride and one told me that the Champney Falls trail was in great shape so I figured I would give it a try on Monday. Turns out that they were spot-on. I’m not that fast a rides, but with the exception of the couple of steep humps along the way, I was able to ride all the way up in less than 40 minutes. When I got to the falls I spotted a couple of folks setting up a TR on the left side so I walked into the place where the ice started on the floor and said hello. Turns out it was my friend, and master stonemason, Gary Jones with his wife out for an afternoon’s fun. It was great seeing them both.
On the way up I hadn’t seen anyone, but on the way down I met two 20-something young women in sweatpants and sweatshirts heading up the trail. They seemed a little underdressed considering, but hey - it’s not my place right? The ride down was truly wonderful ride that I wish went on twice as long. I’d love to find more rides like that one in this area.
Brad and I did Goofers on Tuesday morning and it was in great shape, with surprisingly thick ice at the bottom and plastic ice at the top. Even Super Goofer still looked OK, tho there was a V-thread below the ice alcove about 1/2 way up which looked to me as if someone had bailed! We brought Brad’s new single 70 meter rope for the climb, knowing that we could easily tension left to the Super Goofer belay tree and come down the gully. Brad had this thought that it would make it all the way down on climber’s-left, but I was pretty skeptical. I rapped first and when I got to where I could see the ends of the rope, they looked to me as if they weren’t going to be that close. So I stopped and ran in a screw at a place where someone had put in a V-thread and let him come down. He looked at the ends and declared that he felt it was going to make it, with stretch. HMMM, I thought. Brad’s got a bit of heft on me, so I figured I would send him down. (Let Mikey try it…) He went on down and it turns out he was right. He was able to get to the little rock/snow shelf just right of the gully. Go figure! I clipped in and followed and I was “just” able to get onto the shelf myself. That’s worth knowing, tho you can always get off with a single 60 if you go to the tree.
Between ice climbing, xc-skiing and playing on the FT bike in the winter I really do enjoy living up here. If I didn’t have all those activities to do I doubt I would still be living up here. The FT bike has been one of my better acquisitions of the past several years and I’m digging it. You can rent one for 1/2 or full day to check it out at Stan & Dan Sports or some of the other local shops. I highly recommend it.
Ice Conditions Report:
Selected Ice Conditions effective April 24, 2024
It's all over for 2023/2024.
Huntington Ravine
OUT
Repentance
OUT
Standard Route
OUT
Dracula
OUT
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
As always, here are a few interesting pix from this morning:
As always, more pix are on NEClimbs Ice Report and Facebook.
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:
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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.
