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So after a very busy day I was just sitting on the couch watching the Sox demolish the Marlins last night when WHAM, the rains came! The wind started whipping through the house, slamming an upstairs bedroom door. It was really hot last night so I had the whole house open and all the fans on, so I had to run around like crazy closing windows and sliders. On the good side it did cool things off just a little, so who am I to complain?
This is probably the most up and down summer I can remember, weather wise, with brutal heat bookending darn close to a month of steady rains. Couple that with what is officially the most recorded population increase in squirrels & chipmunks, and it's just overall strange. That's right, if you have noticed a major increase in the numbers of dead rodents on the roads, you are correct. Go figure...
Much of this summer I've been trying to do climbs I haven't done before, or at least climb in different places. Not that I haven't climbed on Cathedral or Whitehorse mind you. But I'm branching out. Last week I headed down to the Wolfeboro/Alton area with Joe & Judy Perez to climb at Rines Hill. People have been climbing there for quite a long time, but it's not that well known. Jon Garlough, George Hurley, and Brad White have put up some routes there over the few years, but it was climbed well before they were there, certainly in the mid-70-s.
To get there go to Wolfeboro from Rt 1`6 and turn left at the traffic light. Continue on Rt 28 and bear right to go toward Alton. Before you get to Alton turn left onto Rines Road, curve right, then where the road turns to dirt (~ 1 mile) bear left and drive 1.2 miles. Look for a old clearcut on your left that goes steeply uphill and a smallish pullout on the right. Walk across the road and follow an obscure climbers trail uphill. The walk in is only about 15 minutes or so. Near the top of the clearcut bear left, following another clearcut to a bit of a landing. Keep your eyes out for cairns! Where the cut goes left and right, look straight ahead for some orange tape that goes into the glade. Occasional tape will lead to the craig. Fortunately I was able to get us there with little difficulty and, just as I had remembered, the rock is nice and the routes fun. It's hard to describe exactly where it is, and the Chinos guidebook to the area doesn't really have what you need to find it either. However the guide does have the route names and some brief descriptions. You can get a copy at IME.
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
We climbed several routes on the right side of the craig: Dike Steps (5.3), Groovy (5.7) and Layback Crack (5.8). There are many more in the 5.7-8 range that are well worth doing. You can easily spend a couple of days there on the moderates. It was well worth the excursion and we plan on returning this fall. Here's a couple of pictures of the day:
DIRTBAG - The Legend of Fred Beckey:
This documentary will be shown at IME this Saturday night. It starts at 7 PM and is $10 at the door.
VALLEY CYCLING:
I got in several good days of riding last week, but last Saturday was probably the best day so far this season. I met my friend Bobby Graver at Hurricane Mt Road with the plan to ride up the road, up the Black Cap Trail to the Cranmore Connector and then ride down the Red Tail Trail. As always, it was really quite a stiff ride up as expected, but a sweet ride down. I've ridden the Red Tail many times, but I've been hearing about a new downhill trail called (appropriately) Hurricane that's in construction but rideable, and I was hot to do it. I tried to talk Bobby into making another run, but he was done, so I decided to head back up again. And I did... Repeats on HMR - WHEW! But I did it with no stops.
So the new trail is accessed about 100 yards from the intersection of the Black Cap Trail and the Connector. It wanders down through the woods and enters a clearcut where it has some truly amazing views and sweeping bermed turns. WOO WOO!!! Then it continues through some more woods and connects with the Red Tail several hundred yards from where the RT opens to the landing & the other berms. All I can say is that it was an amazing bunch of riding and I felt stronger than I've felt on the bike in a while. Here's a few pix.
INSTANT BUG REPORT - BUGCon 1:
Seemingly nothing but the occasional mosquito, tick and gnat. Not too shabby folks...
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.
