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Hard to believe but it’s Thanksgiving folks, tho right now I’m looking out at snow falling pretty steadily. The summer has just blown by, and before we know it Christmas, winter and even Ice Fest will be upon us. I never quite understood it when my dad complained how years seemed to go faster as he got older, but at 69 I now understand. what he was saying. So give me a bit of a break when I whine that I’m not quite ready to give up rock season and riding the mountain bike! regardless, it is turkey day, and I wish you, your significant others and your families all my very best.
So, speaking of ice, since I know that’s what everyone is interested in right now! My friends Matt Bowman and Mike Pelchat took a hike up into Tucks on Wednesday. They found climbable ice on the Open Book and some other pitches above that. They reported minimal protection, but good sticks. Here are a few pictures:
I took a ride up into Crawford Notch this morning before the flurries started and found that the ice is finally starting to build up there. Depending on how things go over the next few days we might have some climbable ice in the lower elevations in a week, who knows?
LOCAL NOTES:
The fire that took place near the Albany Covered Bridge has been contained and Passaconaway Road reopened to automobile traffic. However, the Boulder Loop Trail is closed indefinitely. According to the Forest Service, there are still hot spots and snags that present a hazard to hikers and climbers. Tho the climbs are most likely OK, once climbing is allowed, any fixed anchors should be carefully inspected before being used and all slings in the fire zone should be considered suspect!
Bear Notch Road is closed for the season, as is Cathedral Ledge Road. I have not heard about Hurricane Mt Road, but if it’s not closed now it will be soon.
BROWN’S RIDGE - A.K.A. OSSIPEE WHITEFACE:
Last week I talked about climbing with George Hurley and Joe Perez at Ossipee Whiteface. George mentioned that this cliff was originally written up in the second edition of Ed Webster’s long out of print guidebook, Rock climbing In The White Mountains of New Hampshire. It turns out that I have that guide and looked it up. The description starts on pp 246 and encompassing a whole 2 pages and describing 3 climbs with 3 variations! All were put up in 1985-86, mostly by Jim Graham and John Marshall. Interestingly in the description there is mention of the “Ossipee Owl” as a place from where you can see the cliff. Turns out it is a place I’ve noticed for years, but never paid much attention to. Go figure -
RESCUE ON CANNON:
If you hadn’t heard, there was an incident on Cannon a couple of daze ago. Two climbers were “rescued” off Moonshadow (III, 5.9), a route just right of the Half Moon crack on Vertigo. As always s%^&t happens in the mountains. That said, it’s hard to really understand what goes on in people’s heads some times. While the weather was reasonable for the better part of the day, when the predicted change came in the evening, things all went to hell. A simple weather check on a cell phone would have saved a lot of hassle and prevented what could have been a tragic event. Tho we don’t have the full details, it’s hard not to understand why they couldn’t have rapped off, even if they had to leave some gear! From someone on the rescue team:
"35 degrees, raining, 40 mph winds, and only 7 of us. It was a long night. We did it in 2- 250 ft hauls and walked them off.”
2016/2017 FUNDRAISER:
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VALLEY CYCLING:
The wind was howling in the Valley on Wednesday when I was looking for a ride, so I decided to check out the Albany Town Forest for something different. I had heard that the NEMBA folks had leaf-blown it, and in fact that was correct. There is a part that runs along the Swift River and another that’s by the fields behind the Kennett Middle School. It was a very nice place to put in 4.5 miles of mostly flat single-track. All in all it’s a great place to spend an hour or so. Check it out…
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.
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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.
