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So I get this delightful call from my friends the Perez's asking if I was interested in going down to Ossipee to climb with them and George Hurley on Tuesday. Considering how much I enjoy climbing with them, that I wasn't able to get out on any rock last week, and the weather looked so good - I jumped at the chance.
Even at 86, George is one of those people who is always looking for new routes. Of course Joe and Judy are of a similar ilk, certainly one of the reasons we all get along and enjoy climbing together. There are a number of crags in the Ossipee area and these routes are on one of them, the rather obscure Raccoon Mountain. There has been a pretty fair amount of development there over the past 3 years, so I figure that's enough time that I can mention it. That said, I'll leave it to you to figure out where it actually is. [wry grin]
The climbs we did were all on a short wall on left side of the area. In a way it reminds me of the routes George found and recently developed up on the far left side of Rines Hill. All are decidedly short, but all have some worthwhile features. His most recent route is the one furthest right and is as yet unnamed. I led it and guess it's 5.6/5.7 trad. While we were poking around I spotted an interesting face 20' to the left. With minimal cleaning it exposed some fun holds and features that I would guess make it about 5.8. I led it with 2 pieces of gear and it remains unnamed at this time. 20' left of that is a trad George route that he has dubbed The Kraken (5.7). It takes small gear left of the actual line that can be somewhat difficult to spot. A little bit more left is Judy Perez's climb A Little Help From My Friends (5.5/5.6). This one has a couple of bolts, an anchor and is probably the tallest of the group. While we were there George and Judy spotted another interesting looking line right of Little Help that they both did on TR. All in all some cool stuff and worth the drive and ~25 minute walk.
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
RUMNEY CRAGGIN' CLASSIC:
It's back folks! This year it will be September 17-19, 2021 and is being sponsored by CAMP Technical Adventure Equipment. It looks to be a great weekend and there is limited space so get your tickets NOW.
PEREGRINE OPENING NOTIFICATION FROM CHRIS MARTIN:
All seasonal climbing closures put in effect in Spring 2021 for NH Peregrine Falcon nest sites have been lifted. Climb on!
INSTANT BUG REPORT: 2
Ticks still out and about, but it's mostly annoying mosquitoes at sunrise and sunset or in deep woods.
SOME LOCAL/NATIONAL PANDEMIC THOUGHTS:
"New Hampshire has not had this many people hospitalized with the coronavirus since early May. The state announced Wednesday that 77 patients are currently receiving hospital care for the virus. As cases have increased in recent days, the number of active COVID-19 infections has similarly risen: There are 1,910 current cases."
* The Delta variant is more transmissible than prior variants and case numbers are quickly increasing.
* Among hospitalized adults, nearly all are unvaccinated, which speaks to the power of the Covid-19 vaccines.
* Delta has underscored the importance of vaccinating as much of the population as possible.
Do we need a national mandate for vaccination? Is personal choice to vaccinate or not the defining moment here? Or is the defining moment that we all have a societal obligation to not be the fuel for the forest fire? The unvaccinated in some respects are an unsuspecting accomplice to the arsonist at large – they serve as bone-dry tinder for the lighted match. Should we rethink this?
Our body politics are not allowing a universal approach to public health. Do our corporate leaders who can mandate vaccination step up to the plate? Does anyone really believe that the Emergency Use Authorization is that much different than the FDA licensing it under a full Biologics License Application? Does any argument saying that the FDA hasn’t certified it bring out any sense of credulity? Yes, there are important steps to licensing the medication so that there is consistency from lot to lot in manufacturing. But at 400 million vaccinated and growing daily, we have ample safety and efficacy data.
--Larry Corey, Professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins
So here we are, rapidly trending back in the wrong direction. And that's why I'm back to masking indoors when I'm around groups of people; like the grocery store, coffee shop, LL Bean, Walmart, etc. There is talk about a booster shot and I'm totally down with it. Absolutely any thing I can do to keep this virus at bay, I'm IN. As I watch the numbers go up, I say why the frell not? To me it's just like adding that extra screw to the ice belay!
New Hampshire:
1 new death reported
280 new cases reported
1,910 Active cases
77 patients are currently hospitalized
1,394 total deaths
United States:
Confirmed: 37,198,723
Deaths: 624,567
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.
OUR ONLY WAY OUT IS IF YOU GET VACCINATED, WHERE RECOMMENDED PLEASE STILL WEAR A MASK, WASH YOUR HANDS!
REMEMBER - WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
VALLEY CYCLING:
In amongst the climbing, music gigs and a couple of trips to the gym this week, I did manage a couple of times out on the bike. One was over to the Marshall trails, which was just a teensy bit muddy and the other to Cranmore for a bunch of downhill runs. Tho quite different of course, both were great fun - and of course that's always the name of the game. If it ain't fun, don't bother.
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.
