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So we had some weather come through earlier this week that I know was a disappointment for many. A good friend complained that "Texas got more snow than we did"! LOL While I guess that's true, this most recent one was only part of a series of storm systems that have dumped a fair amount of white stuff in the Valley and in the mountains.
The take away from this most recent storm is that pretty much everywhere up here got 2-5 inches of sleet-hail-rain-freezing rain! It was a mess. Fortunately I got out and did my cleanup late morning just as it was stopping. I say fortunately because in 1 hours it set up and became a frozen mess. I was shoveling in front of my house and the stuff on the steep front roof sloughed and covered my front stoop, blocking my front door and instantly turning into a surprisingly solid mass! [face palm]
So - what does this have to do with climbing you ask... Well that event, the storm not the slough, did a real number on the snowpack. It basically put this yuck-o 3" or so of crust on top of sugar-snow. You can literally hear a hollow sound as you walk on top of it, until you punch through. [sigh] It makes getting around in the woods difficult at best, treacherous at worst. So you will be a lot happier following someone who has already broken trail, and/or wearing snowshoes. I went out yesterday to check out what was happening over on Whitehorse. The Bryce Path was actually quite well packed out and very nice. But wandering around in the woods off the trail was a serious slog. And no, I had neither snowshoes nor Microspikes! And yes, what was I thinking? Not very smart Albert. But you all can learn from my mistakes, right? [wry grin]
I did make an attempt to climb on Monday With Matty Bowman and Mark Vanover. I've been watching Black Pudding and had some hope that it was in better shape than it had been 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately that was not the case. And in fact it was somewhat worse. I'm not hugely optimistic it will be climbable this season, and that makes me sad.
TREAD LIGHTLY February 25 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm EST Free:
Winter Climbing in the Eastern White Mountains - Join Friends of the Ledges and the Access Fund in a community forum about winter climbing in the White Mountains.As more and more people discover the challenge and allure of cold weather climbing, there is an increasing concern about permanent rock damage caused by dry tooling and mixed climbing.
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
As always the full set of regular pictures are on Facebook and NEClimbs.
SOME LOCAL/NATIONAL PANDEMIC THOUGHTS:
VACCINATION is the name of the game right now. Getting as many people vaccinated as possible to create herd immunity as well as getting the public to buy-in on the mask-sanitize-social-distance thing are critical. If we as a society would just do the latter we could literally to break the back of the virus. It's hard to keep doing this stuff, that's for sure. I've been basically alone for 11 months and frankly I'm tired of "staying strong". But I know it's the right thing to do, for myself and for society. I got my shot today and frankly it's the most exciting thing that's happened to me in a year. So get the vaccine as soon as it's offered, and continue to do the things that will help you and others stay safe. I feel strongly that it's the only way we're going to get out of this mess...
New Hampshire:
12 new death(s) reported - only 5 from long term care facilities!
665 new cases reported
1,148 deaths total
3,372 Active cases
126 patients are currently hospitalized
US:
Confirmed Cases: 27,826,891
Total Deaths: 490,550
Global:
Confirmed Cases: 109,981,805
Total Deaths: 2,432,197
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:
So I did ride a little just before the storm, but afterward - no way. Even walking around on the pack isn't possible right now unless the trails are fully packed. That will happen in a day or two tho, considering how many people are in town this week. The snow machine trails are pretty good now and I will likely get out tomorrow or Saturday to check some out.
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.
