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Well, weather-wise it's been an eventful week. But after all, it's still early December and not even officially winter yet, so what can we realistically expect? With lower-elevation ice actually available to be climbed, I'm actually feeling pretty good about the season so far. Plus, even tho we had a veritable deluge a couple of days ago, it's going to be quite cold over there weekend so things should build somewhat quickly.
That said, you really do need to be careful out there right now. With all the rain and 2 days of unseasonably warm temps, what's left of the ice can be thin and very delaminated. I would really scrutinize whatever route you are considering, bring your stubbies and protect early and often.
I climbed the middle of Standard up to the cave this morning. It was 30 degrees at Frankenstein at 11, and even warmer back at the car at 12:30! Even tho it was that warm, the water wasn't running as much as I expected. Go figure... Still the ice was plastic and thick enough as long as I stayed in the middle. If you're a Facebook subscriber I posted a little video up there that describes things. Otherwise here's a few pictures:
THE 2019 FUNDRAISER:
Thanks to all of you who have contributed to the Report. I appreciate all of your support. You can see the most recently update list on NEClimbs and the link is below. The current donation count is at 47. That's out of over 1200 subscribers folks. Needless to say, I'd really like to see the donation list at least get up to 100. What can I say friends? That would just about justify the effort expended.
It really does take a commitment on my part to do this each and every week, so that you folks will have the information you need to make your plans for the coming weekend. If you feel that the White Mountain Report and the Ice Report in particular is valuable to you, please take a minute or two and make a donation of any amount. I would sincerely appreciate your support. Simply go ON LINE and make your donation via PayPal. You don't actually need a PayPal account, you can use almost any credit card. Just click the link below:
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The time and expense of the running and maintaining NEClimbs.com and putting out The White Mountain Report continue all year. But in the winter I put in at least 5 hours every Thursday taking the pictures, processing them, writing the Report, posting the pix on NEClimbs and FaceBook and putting out the email newsletter Report. It's a lot. PLEASE REMEMBER, it's your contribution that makes this newsletter and the NEClimbs web site viable.
You can see many of the Reports on NEClimbs.com web site, I've archived them from as far back as September of 1999! To get a sense of the popularity of the site, current site traffic as of October 26 2017 on NEClimbs.com is about 20,000 UNIQUE visits a day, generating roughly 900,000 monthly "HITS". The White Mountain Report newsletter also goes out to over 1,200 subscribers weekly! If you're one of those, please consider making a donation to the site.
It's been a wonderful ice season, but Spring is officially here folks. Thus the sun is strong so it's warm during the day, but it's cold at night. And of course that means that climbs in the full sun are crap, but anything in the shade can still be good and maybe even building a bit. Sure, Standard Route is still massive, but the ice isn't all that good IMO. I was up there today and thought the ice above the cave was punky! Climbs in the reflector oven that is the Amphitheater are a mess now and honestly in my mind it's not a smart place to be. We're entering a time when the best climbing will be up high in the Ravine. And of course the longer days make it a great time to be up there. From here on out I'm only going to be posting pictures of things I think are in climbable shape, and that's a dwindling supply.
Huntington Ravine
IN mostly
Repentance
OUT
Standard Route
climbable, but getting punky
Dracula
IN - bring your snorkle
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
Of course there is ice to be had and here are some pictures taken today:
VALLEY CYCLING:
While the regular trails aren't packed out yet, there are places to ride. Since the snow has packed down places like Whittaker Woods, Sawyer River Road, the Peaked hiking trail all are fairly reasonable. You might need studded tires tho, as in many places there is ice underneath the fluffy snow.
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 some 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:
Al Hospers
The White Mountain Report
North Conway, New Hampshire
I was once bouldering in solitude in the Needles, when a young female walked up and introduced herself and asked who I was. I told her and continued bouldering. She turned and walked away after a few minutes, saying over her shoulder: 'you can't be John Gill. He climbs much better than that'.
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.
