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Oh goodness - It's August already! And after a good solid dose of summer over the past few weeks, there is a twinge of fall in the air. I know that we have a long time before we should be thinking about winter, and frankly I'm not exactly looking forward to snow removal part of that season, but 50 degrees last night was great sleeping weather. Tho it forced me to pull out a light blanket and throw it on the bed. Overnight temps on then other side of Mt Washington were in the low 40's, tho the summit only got down to 47! Go figure...
I had a little time a couple of days ago and thought I could drive up to the top of Cathedral and get in a lap or two on the little classroom. Unfortunately just as I got there a squall came through and I bagged it. There have been these popup rains that have come up lately more or less unexpectedly. But that's what summer in the mountains can be like. I have seen some reports of folks out climbing & hiking and having some pretty significant thunder boomers with a lot of lightning come through where they were that look pretty scary.
Lightning in the mountains really scares me. I was hiking alone in the Maroon Bells outside of Aspen years ago and was on the saddle between the 2 when a very unexpected storm came through. My hair stood on end and I could feel the charge in the air. I hunkered down in between some rocks and watched ground strikes within a few hundred yards of me. Frankly it was terrifying. There was no one else out there at all and I felt extremely vulnerable. Not that it would have made any difference. At least I wasn't carrying any metal climbing gear!
As an update... I'm still wrestling with hand issues so I've cut down on climbing (belaying especially) and cut out the mountain bike altogether. It's getting a little better so that's a plus. I ride the road bike maybe 2x a week and workout at the gym so that's it for the time being. I'm most worried about the music part of things as you can likely imagine. Thanks to the folks who have offered suggestions. Specialist appointment is scheduled in early October so we shall see.
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
VALLEY CYCLING:
I had a little extra time Monday morning before an appointment in Conway Village, so I decided to ride the hill portion of the Kanc for something different. Plus I figured that after a big weekend, there wouldn't be a lot of traffic. That wasn't the case unfortunately. My plan was to park at Sabbady Falls and just ride to the top from there. Temps were near-perfect at 9:30 AM, but there were a lot of cars going in my direction. A couple came surprisingly close to me as I was going uphill, especially considering that there was almost no-one coming in the opposite direction! There IS a reason I pretty much quit riding on the road.
That said, it was a nice ride: 13.35 miles, 1,542 feel of elevation gained and 1:08 round trip. I must say that I love that downhill. 47 minutes up and around 10 minutes down! HA
INSTANT BUG REPORT - Bug CON 3:
I've been able to sit out on the deck and not get eaten alive over the past few days and even get out picking blueberries, which is a somewhat sedentary pastime. So I just had to drop the rating down to a 3. The deep woods will certainly be different and the ticks are still pretty darn bad in a lot of places, so keeping the bug dope handy is a smart move.
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
All ice is dangerous. Grade 4 pillars are pumpy. Grade 5 pillars are pumpy and dangerous. Except for certain rare days of triple-high biorythms and favorable planetary alignments, grade 6 is beyond reach.
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.
