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WOW - it's already Labor Day weekend and it seems as if all I am doing is working these days. DAMN! And I thought I had retired... Looks like I'm just tired all over again. [roll eyes at bad joke] Who knew, right?
When I was working a regular job as a software engineer I'd almost always get weekends off. Unfortunately that's not the case when you're back to being a pro musician. I have a 3 day gig/get together this weekend that's required me memorizing and practicing 40 Stevie Wonder tunes, jazz gig on Monday in Ashland and a big rehearsal on Tuesday for an upcoming concert or original tunes. Be careful what you wish for, right? I don't know when I'm going to get out climbing, but it's got to be soon. I'm really Jonesing!
One of my 2 sons is in Brooklyn, the other in Philadelphia. Both places where Hurricane Ida came through over the past day or so. The pictures of downtown Philly are pretty amazing. The expressway through town looks like a frikking canal! And I've seen a video of Park Slope in Brooklyn that looks like a veritable flash-flood zone. Central Park in NYC got over 7" of rain in 6 hours, an all time record! My buddy who lives right outside of Philly posted a picture of a big-ass EF 3 tornado going right by a local bridge not far from his house. We just had Henri blow through last week, and now Ida right behind. WTF is going on? Fortunately in both cases, we didn't get more than a bunch of rain up here. In this part of the state we certainly dodged 2 bullets. I remember Irene and what that did to New England. There was some damage in the southern part of the state, but nothing like that one. WHEW!
OTHER STUFF
If you're following NEClimbs on Facebook, you likely have seen a couple of these. If not, they may be new to you...
Barry Blanchard: I've met Barry Blanchard several times when he has been a guest guide for Ice fest, and one time 15 years ago in the Canadian Rockies when I was out climbing. Each time he was very friendly and a true gentleman. This is a pretty serious thing and quite tragic. Goes to show that shit can happen anywhere!
Jon Sykes: Jon Sykes will do a presentation of his adventures and whatnot in the Whites on September 11 at 5pm at The Dam Brewhouse in Campton, NH. I've hung with Jon on occasion over the years, and he sure has some stories to tell. This should be a good one.
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
I did a review on NEClimbs.com of John Branch's new-ish book Sidecountry last week. It's a collection of sports-related stories/articles he wrote for the NY Times. Check it out. It's a great read (the book that is). HIGHLY recommended...
I think the numbers pretty much speak for themselves. They keep going up, both in the state and of course world-wide. It's pretty discouraging, considering the availability of 3 solid vaccines; at least in this country. In spite of a lot of blow-back, our local school board has decided to mask up the kids going back to school. Considering the delta variant, many here in the Valley think it's a good idea. My younger son was in school here from K-12 and my ex and I would have been pretty insistent about him being masked. After all, we both were always up on our shots, and there always has been a mandate about kids having their shots simply to be in school. It simply seems like such a no brainer.
New Hampshire:
1 new death reported
348 new cases reported
3,041 Active cases
118 patients are currently hospitalized
1,421 total deaths
United States:
Confirmed: 39,499,487
Deaths: 643,117
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:
I went out for a quick east side ride somewhat late Tuesday afternoon. I checked the radar and it looked as if I would have an hour to get in what is normally a 45 minute loop. Welp, that was an unforced-error on my part. [sigh] Just as I got at the furthest point in my ride, on the Ultimate Singletrack, it started to rain. And it poured the whole 20+ minute ride back home and my shoes were completely filled when I pulled into my garage. On the good side it wasn't thundering and lightening.
I've been saying that the trails are in great shape and aren't at all muddy. That's not exactly the case right now. I was out on both east and west side trails this week and there was definitely mud here & there. Not terrible, but more than I've seen in a while. There is also a lot of logging going on in the area accessed by Hemlock Lane. I noticed a somewhat new skidder path right across the Muffler Trail the other day. And if you look carefully you might spot equipment in the woods. If you're riding during the day you might even see them out there.
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.
