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OK... In case you haven't heard, the weather is going to crap tonight. And I don't mean just a little either. The current prediction is for 1-2 inches of rain on Friday and into Saturday! That's a BIG YUCK friends. No other way to say it. So take the pictures and today's report with a grain or two of salt, cause things are going to change big time. My plan is to go back out on Sunday morning to take another round of pictures to let everyone know how things are. STAY TUNED...
I grabbed the opportunity this morning to actually do a bit of climbing, since who knows what things will be like after the weather event. I drove up through the Notch taking pictures and was amazed at how many folks were out climbing on a Thursday. There were so many on Standard Route that I immediately crossed that one off my list.
Then I thought maybe I'd run up Cinema. But tho it looked doable, as I took my Willard pics there was stuff falling down off the upper tier and that didn't look promising, so that was off the list.
There were lots of cars in the lot at the top of Crawford Notch, but since I hadn't seen anyone while I took my pics, I figured that they were on Jackson or Webster. So I grabbed my stuff and headed down the tracks toward Hitchcock. Just a bit past Snot Rocket I spotted a newly packed trail heading up toward the slab that's right of the Monkey Wrench. I figured I'd climb that and then walk over toward Upper Hitchcock. Interestingly enough tho it went to the lower toe of the slab which was filled with avalanche debris, and then trended left right to the base of the Monkey Wrench. Go figure... There was a party of 2 just heading up and a solo person that I kind of know from another good friend. We chatted as we waited and he was headed over to the Cleft. He climbed and then I followed. The climbing was plastic and generally quite nice.
The trail up to the big flow right of Hitchcock was well packed and when I got there it looked inviting. I had a 60 meter 7 mill double that I trailed to the top and found a tree with rings on it on the left. I rapped and when I pulled the rope it stuck. I thought maybe I'd left a knot in the end, but I didn't think so. I pulled a lot and very hard, but it wouldn't budge... SIGH
I didn't really want to re-solo the same pitch, so I walked over to Upper Hitchcock. I figured it looked OK, so I headed up. It was a bit on the thin side in the middle, but OK. Interestingly there was a v-thread at about the halfway point. Who knows? I continued up a little past the belay tree on the right, stepped over the gully edge onto the upper snowfield and went tree to tree down to when I'd rapped from. The rope was not stuck in the ring! HUH I looked down and it was tied around some bushes about 10' down. I had a couple of double length slings and clipped into the ring and carefully stepped down and grabbed the rope. It was tied onto the bush with what looked exactly like a bowline! It was tight enough that I don't think I could have pulled it down. I hauled it up, put it through the ring again and rapped. This time making sure to pull the rope slightly to the left so it would avoid the bushes and fortunately it pulled with no issue. I packed up and walked back down the trail to the Monkey Wrench, rapped from there and continued down the trail I'd come up earlier. Piece of cake.
All in all it was a fun morning/afternoon playing around on the ice. It's been a while since I've climbed the Wrench, the big flow and Upper Hitchcock and it felt great to do them all. Here's a few pictures. I should have taken more, but I was just having too much fun...
2019 FUNDRAISER:
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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.
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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
Here are some pictures taken today. The normal ones are on Facebook and NEClimbs.
VALLEY CYCLING:
Whittaker Woods may be the best local place to ride right now, tho Bear Notch Road is great too. Other than those I understand Moose Brook in Gorham, NH is great right now.
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.
