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WOW, what a weekend. In fact, what a week it was. We went through about every scenario that you could, in a bare 7 day period. Ending of course with the huge WHEWWWW exclamation when we all realized that Ice Fest 2016 was actually going to happen as planned! Just in case you were living under a rock, what I’m talking about was the amazing warmup and rain we had only a few days right before the weekend. Right down to the wire, Thursday, temps were in the mid-40’s and the water was pouring everywhere. Talk about a shock to the system!
Of course we’ve had warmups around Xmas and January thaws before, even to the extent that much of the ice fell down. But this year it was really really late. In keeping with the late Indian Summer this year that gave us mountain biking in shorts on Xmas day. Ice Fest started on Friday and I was scheduled to take a crew of beginner alpinists to Willies Slide for a day of crampon technique, self arrest and v-thread demos. I was concerned that we weren’t going to be able to do self-arrest, but amazingly it was cold and we got 3-4+ inches of powdery snow over the course of the day, giving us enough snow for self-arrest and the feeling of winter. I repeated the same course on Saturday and conditions were even better.
Over the course of the weekend the ice continued to build and everyone managed to get in pretty much all of the climbs that they wanted to do. As is often the case, I had a music gig on Saturday night and a jazz brunch on Sunday so I didn’t get to any of the presentations, but from what I heard they were fantastic as usual. I’ve been to every one of these and one of these daze I’m going to have to turn down some gigs and catch the shows. [wry grin]
Huge kudos go out to IME and IMCS owners Rick Wilcox and Brad White for putting on this amazing event. And especially to Celia, Ashley, Michael, Todd, the fluorescent-shirt guys & gals who helped outfit everyone, the guest guides, the incredible vendors and the Tuckerman Brewing Company. And of course big thanks to everyone who came out and participated. It was a FABULOUS event and you all ROCK.
I climbed Walk In The Forest this morning with Brad. I could see holes in the middle curtain, but the left corner was big and fat. I had done it several weeks ago and it was plastic and I didn’t use more than 4 screws on the entire 130’ of climbing. This time it was much bigger, with fewer stances, and quite brittle in many spots. In addition the top-out up the final little headwall was quite tricky. Frankly I was happy to run in 9 screws! Of course for all you hard men & women out there YMMV. [wry grin]
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
There’s probably a lesson to be learned from this, ya think?
VALLEY CYCLING:
In a word, it’s FANTASTIC. If you have a fat tire bike, you are in heaven now. People are riding most trails on the East side and many on the West as well. Folks have been going out to Sawyer Pond, up Bear Notch Road, up Hurricane Mountain, out to Zealand Hut, up Jefferson Notch Road and even up into Tuckerman Ravine. Now’s the time to get out there folks. It’s never been better!
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
Climbing is about climbing, not talking about climbing, thinking about what you are going to climb, nor thinking about what you are going to think when you've finished climbing!
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.
