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What a beautiful Spring day it was, and still is. A bluebird morning just below freezing at 6 AM, followed by more bluebird and mid-40 degree temps by noon. I know, I know many folks would be happy with ice season all year 'round. But for many of us who live up here in the hinterlands, 5 months is quite enough thank you.
I hadn't seen dirt anywhere other than the occasional muddy driveway since October. Or at least until a few days ago when I noticed that the path that I snowblow out to my compost pile in the back yard was showing some brown. I thought it was just pine needles and the like, but it turned out that it was actually ground! And then the next day I spotted some Rhododendron branches poking out of the snowbanks in front of my house. Amazing...
Regarding the pine needles on my compost path, I've noticed a very interesting thing about them in other places. I was riding the fat tire bike the other day on the Sidehill Trail, off the Peaked Trail on the East Side. The trail was well packed, but where there were pine needles on the trail, they caused the trail to be "pock marked". It was as if they absorb the sunlight, make the snow warmer and melt some holes into the snowpack. I'd never noticed that before and it was interesting. I'm also noticing the wells around all of the trees. The sap is flowing and there is no question that spring is here.
This means that it's time to look for some 3 or 4 sport days now. This is the time of year where you can grab an easy ice climb somewhere, do a road or fat tire bike ride, ski something and hit Humphreys Ledge for some warm rock. I've managed numerous 3 sport days and the occasional 4. It's one of the real benefits of living up here year-round. I could have managed it today, but I had to do the Report and take care of a couple of errands. I did manage to get in a nice bike ride on Mt Clinton Road, but couldn't manage any other time-wise today. [SIGH]
Ice Conditions Report:
Selected Ice Conditions effective March 21, 2024
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 a few interesting pictures taken this morning:
As always the climb-by-climb pics are on Facebook and NEClimbs.com.
VALLEY CYCLING:
I've ridden the fat tire bike 3 times thins week. The first 2 were here in North Conway. One was a nice ride on the snowmobile trails you can access at Hemlock Lane behind Walmart. The second was up the Peaked Trail to the intersection, then hanging a right on the Sidehill Trail. This one turned into a bit of a kerfuffle when I lost the trail while heading down the hill. I ended up riding through the woods on the crust and ending up finally crossing The Knot. I knew I couldn't really get lost, so it was just an entertaining adventure. HA
This morning I rode Mt Clinton Road all the way to the Base Road and Jefferson Notch Road. I was hoping to ride up Jefferson Notch as well but by 11:30 AM it was very soft and chewed up by the snow machines. Mt Clinton Road itself wasn't too bad, a little soft here & there. There was a place where the snow had collapsed and there were two 4' holes in the road, with pavement at the bottom and water running over it! Still, it was a nice ~6 mile ride. 46 degrees at the car when I got back tho!
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.
