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We got 2.4" of much needed rain on Monday, and of course that didn't help the state of the ice or snow. While it's not unusual to be warm this time of year, it's most certainly not what we have been hoping for. I looked back through 8 years in the archives and it is quite interesting:
Dec 3, 2003 - climbable ice
Dec 2, 2004 - no ice, climbing rock
Dec 1, 2005 - big rains and no snow or ice
Dec 7, 2006 - forming but not climbable
Dec 6, 2007 - great ice
Dec 4, 2008 - good ice
Dec 10, 2009 - no ice low
Dec 2, 2010 - Ice on Monday, rain on Wednesday, no ice Thursday!
When it comes down to it, we're not that out of the ordinary. You can look through the rest of the archives that are stored on NEClimbs.com for yourself. So as I say in the Ice report - STAY TUNED!
INSTANT ICE REPORT:
I wish I could be the bearer of better news, but unfortunately that's not to be the case. The big rain we had a few days ago and warmer temps washed away the little bit that was building and the upcoming weather report isn't very optimistic for building ice. Maybe you might want to grab a little dry rock where you can find it, or break out the whitewater kayak like Jonathan Garlough. [LOL] Needless to say, the ice will be here when it's here. Stay tuned...
As always the full set of pictures are on Facebook and NEClimbs.
2020/2021 FUNDRAISER:
This is the last week of the 20201 Fundraiser. So far 92 kind folks have donated this year as of December 4th. It would be great if we could hit an even 100 this year, but regardless I truly appreciate the support of each and every one of you.
Of course you can also contribute via check or money order if you like. Please make it out to Al Hospers and send it here:
NEClimbs
92 Bow Lane
North Conway, NH 03860
The time and expense of the running and maintaining NEClimbs.com and putting out The White Mountain Report continue all year, but I only ask for donations once. In the winter I put in at least 5 hours every Thursday driving up into the Notch, taking the pictures, processing them, writing the Report, posting the pix on NEClimbs and FaceBook and putting out the email newsletter Report. It's an effort that I do enjoy, but PLEASE REMEMBER, it's your contribution that makes this newsletter and the NEClimbs web site viable.
BTW You can see almost all of the Reports on NEClimbs.com archived from as far back as September of 1999! To get a sense of the popularity of the site, current traffic as of October 29 2020 on NEClimbs.com is about 126,000 UNIQUE visits a day, generating almost 2 million monthly "HITS". The White Mountain Report newsletter goes out every week to over 1,200 subscribers weekly!
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
SOME LOCAL/NATIONAL PANDEMIC THOUGHTS:
The world is awash in Coronavirus - as of 2 December 2020, there have been 63,719,213 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,482,084 deaths, reported to WHO. The United States alone has 13,563,731 confirmed cases and 268,482 deaths directly attributable to the virus.
And NH isn't immune. After a lull throughout the summer, numbers started to rise in October. The peak for October was 217 on the 2nd, but on average we were under 100. The rate is rising exponentially. Cases rose in the state from 130 on Nov 1st, to 772 new cases on Dec 1 and our 7 day positivity rate has jumped to 6.8% according to Johns Hopkins! This is the second highest rate since testing started. For a state with only 84 ICU beds in the entire state, this is obviously not good news.
What does this mean locally? Carroll County had 22 new cases on Wednesday and Conway saw 5. For some of you who live in places with significantly larger populations, this may seem trivial. However, in a town the size of Conway with the near-constant influx of visitors and a tiny hospital with only 5 ICU beds, this is quite significant. Another concerning statistic is that almost 20% of new cases in NH are in the 20-29 age group. Epidemiologists feel this is because they are more active socially and less likely to take the virus seriously!
All this comes very in focus when someone you know tests positive. For me personally it was a shock to hear that the owner of the Red Parka Restaurant and Tavern, Terry O'Brien) tested positive on Monday. I have known her and her family for 25 years and played music there many many times. They are now closed for 2 weeks for testing and cleaning and of course everyone wishes her and her staff all the best. FYI this information was posted by Terry on her FB page and in an interview in the Daily Sun today, so it is common knowledge.
--------------------------- IMPORTANT -----------------------
The CDC has released a new guideline stating that "Those 65 or older should not enter any indoor public areas where anyone is unmasked."
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20201203/CDC.jpg
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I find JHU's Daily COVID-19 Data in Motion report to be very informative. It shares critical data on COVID-19 from the last 24 hours in a short 1 minute animated video format.
WEAR A MASK, SANITIZE AND STAY PHYSICALLY DISTANT FRIENDS!
REMEMBER - WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
VALLEY CYCLING:
With no ice climbing to do, I've been biking almost every day. Sawyer River Road is open and in good shape, there is only a little mud on the trails in the Valley. On Tuesday I decided to ride Mt Clinton Rd, but decided at the last minute to ride the RR tracks from the top of Crawford Notch down to Willies Slide. On my full suspension bike it was actually OK. There was water pouring off everything and it was surprising just how many little gullies there are with runoff coming down Willard and Mt Willie. There are 2 big streams below Willies Slide, I know one is from Willies and assume the other is from Little Willies. The water below the big trestle left of My Willard was amazing. I believe that this is where the ever elusive Streamliner that Kurt Winkler found is. I've never done it, but if the amount of water is any indication, it could be very interesting. I'm going to try to get in rides on Friday and Saturday while I can.
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
Naked male sport climbers? No! I want naked male trad hogs! Pushing 50 or over, very hairy chest and back, front tooth missing (no dental insurance), wrinkled yellow toenail fungus, sunburnt dome with long gray ponytail (sparse curls will do), fingers the size of Polish sausages, torn-off nipples due to offwidth damage... Now there's a man, an image to behold, every climber chick's dream. And when he says: 'Hey, honey, wanna do the DNB?' you just melt into a heap of adoring lard.
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.
