Like reading the White Mountain Report every week? Why not get it delivered to your e-mailbox every Thursday? All you have
to do is subscribe. It's fast, painless, and best of all it doesn't cost you
a dime!
We’re rapidly reaching that time of year when it’s going to be very difficult for me to stay inside for any length of time. As it is I find myself getting very antsy if I am in the house for more than a couple of hours. I find myself trying to work in doing outdoor things as a part of my daily errands. Like Like using the bike to go to the bank or post office, or for dropping the van off at the mechanic & picking it up. Or getting in a mountain bike ride before I go to the grocery store or picking up my son from school!
It’s harder to work in errands with climbing in the same way, but I usually can manage to stop off at IME for some minuscule piece of gear or chalk or grab some coffee at the Front Side coffee shop or a bagel at Bagels Plus before or after a climb. There is almost always someone around either to chat with about how many pitches we did, or what the conditions were like. It’s not like I don’t like to be home mind you. It’s just that days like Tuesday and Wednesday called me as I sat at my computer working on band posters & practicing my instrument for gigs on the weekend. As soon as we get to that time of the summer when almost every day is like that, the only way folks will be able to get in touch with me will be via cell phone! And since I can and do turn it off when I’m recreating, that’s probably not a bad thing. [wry grin]
For the past 6 months, I have been spending about an hour, 5 days a week at the local gym. About 2 years ago I discovered that I had a frayed labrum and partially torn rotator cuff, mainly from 50 years of overuse rather than a specific accident. I had it looked at, poked, prodded and MRI’ed; finally coming to the conclusion that yes, there was something wrong. Two different Ortho’s and my doctor looked at the test results and suggested PT. One offered up surgery as an option, but after he said it was going to be 10-12 months before I could play bass, climb or ride my bike; I opted for the PT. 2 rounds later I was feeling pretty good and joined the gym to continue the strengthening. I kind of worked it into my routine by going right after I drop my son at the local HS. Since the gym is right on the way home, it’s easy to just stop in for an hour of pumping, followed by 10 minutes of stretching. I know that lots of folks have shoulder and other issues that aren’t going to be fixed with PT, but it’s really worth a shot before you opt for the knife. I wish it had been an option when I had my major back problems in ’75 that led me to getting a fusion in ’76!
Wednesday was such a nice day that Brad and I just had to get outside. We decided that the perfect thing to do was to run up the first 3 pitches of Cormier-Magness on Whitehorse. The sun was out, temps were in the mid-60’s and there was just enough of a breeze once we got off the ground, that the bugs didn’t bother us. I took P1, he took P2 with the flake and I got P3 the crux. There were only a couple of other parties on the slabs and it was about as nice a day as one could possibly imagine. We were up and down in a fraction over 2 hours, leaving me just enough time to run over to the Front Side for a coffee and cookie, before I had to pick up my son and then get back home for some (yuck) yard work. See how that works? [wry grin]
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
INSTANT BUG REPORT: Bug CON 3
YES folks, this is a big jump from last week’s 0! I’m posting this as a 3, but it’s assuredly going to be at higher within a day or two. If you’re out in the open where there is a little breeze, things might not be too bad. But take it from me, in the woods or at the base of the cliffs you’re absolutely going to want DOPE! Climbing on Whitehorse on Wednesday there were almost no bugs, but later on while working n my yard I got eaten up.
VALLEY CYCLING:
The trails are great these days so I’ve been expanding my riding radius the past week or so. Today some friends and I headed out to an area the locals call the Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. This is a series of trails starting off Hemlock Lane, over behind Walmart, and going way up through a valley and up to an overlook that’s pretty high up above Redstone, on the East Conway side of the hill. It’s an easy way to get 7-8 miles and 900’ of great single track up & down in under 2 hours. Of course if you want a bit flatter ride, but still nice single track, you can do the Muffler and Pillar To Pond trails starting from the same place. The elusive muffler is pictured below.
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
And what joy, think ye, did they feel after the exceeding long and troublous ascent? - after scrambling, slipping, pulling, pushing, lifting, gasping, looking, hoping, despairing, climbing, holding on, falling off, trying, puffing, loosing, gathering, talking, stepping, grumbling, anathemising, scraping, hacking, bumping, jogging, overturning, hunting, straddling, - for know you that by these methods alone are the most divine mysteries of the Quest reached.
Norman Collie, 1894, from the Scottish Mountainering Journal
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.
