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October 7, 2021
Hi Folks,
Aye Yi Yi... The Columbus Day holiday weekend is upon us. The foliage is rapidly turning and town is filling up with leaf-peepers. Not to mention of course all those going to the Fryeburg Fair. I'm seeing cars with plates from all over the country, not to mention numerous tour busses. For many of us locals it's a time to just hunker down and mostly stay home.
That is unless you can get out on rock or trail. Honestly, this is some of the best time to ride, climb or do anything outdoors. It's just not a good time to shop or go out to dinner. [LOL]
Here's a few pix from near the top of Pinkham Notch. Obviously there were tons of folks at every pull out.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20211007/foliage_1.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20211007/foliage_2.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20211007/foliage_3.jpg
So apparently someone has stolen the hangers from The Wall Of The Hurley Morning Light, the little cliff near the top of Cathedral Ledge. I don't know if it's vandalism, theft or someone "making a statement. This is not the first time this has taken place. The hangers were stolen one time, and the bolts chopped another. There are several climbers in the area who have taken offense to the bolting of this little face and have threatened and even encouraged others to chop the bolts. Their rational is that someone soloed/bouldered on the face years ago, and that may in fact be true. However, considering the condition of the face when George Hurley, David Giampietro, Joe & Judy Perez, Jeff Lea, Brad White and I cleaned the face and area and put in the bolts, it had very obviously not been used in at least several years. The amount of lichen on the face was considerable, and even the corner crack on the left and the crack just to its right were quite dirty. And in addition it was completely undocumented in any guide book or the new-route book at IME.
The cost of putting up routes in both time and $$ is not insignificant, so needless to say this was disturbing. I find it sad that a few people feel compelled to force their opinions on others. A similar thing took place when a group of us started developing Humphrey's. Tho no bolts were chopped, there was a lot of blow back along the same lines. People had climbed there in the past, so even tho nothing was ever documented it should be developed. Regardless, the Geriatric Walls at Humphreys has become an extremely popular place to climb over the ensuing 7-10 years. I personally find it a real drag that this is taking place. This has become quite a popular area for beginners, guides, Mountain Rescue Service training and even by military groups.
[DAMN]
We hit a new milestone for COVID related deaths in the US - 709,910! Tho not unexpected, in my mind it's a staggering number. I was talking to a local doctor friend this morning and he told me that cases are going down in the South, but have been going up here in Northern NH and upper Maine. Considering the push back against masks and vaccination, it's not surprising. A high ranking member of the NH House has stepped down as leader of the House Finance Committee after distributing a false report to his colleagues full of conspiracy theories about COVID-19, the Catholic Church and other topics. [sigh]
New Hampshire:
4 new deaths reported
625 new cases reported
3,966 Active cases
130 patients are currently hospitalized
1,497 total deaths
United States:
Confirmed: 44,140,108
Deaths: 709,910
Global:
Confirmed: 236,667,123
Deaths: 4,832,340
The Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracking map:
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map
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.
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/covid-19-daily-video
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
I rode the classic Electric Loop in a light drizzle with my son in law on Saturday morning. Amazingly it wasn't muddy or slippery, in spite of some pretty good rain the night before. It rained almost all day Saturday and Sunday, but that began to change on Monday afternoon and Tuesday was pretty nice. As Wednesday looked to be darn close to the pick of the litter, when Phil O pinged me Tuesday morning about going up to Gorham to ride some of the new Coos trails, I jumped at the opportunity. The ride up over the Notch was glorious and the temperature for riding was perfect.
In a mere 2 hours we got in 11.75 miles and 1,145' of climbing. Not too bad on 90% hand built trails. We parked by the trail tracks across from the square in Gorham, but you could also access these trails from the Rt 2 parking area by the Rec Trail access. Regardless of how you do it, these are some very well maintained and fun single track trails and I highly recommend them. If you're on Strava you can check out my route here:
https://www.strava.com/activities/6078485257
https://www.strava.com/activities/6078485257
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:
http://www.neclimbs.com/mobile
Check it out and if you have issues on your specific phone, please feel free to let me know.
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:
http://www.facebook.com/NEClimbs/
Remember - climb hard, ride the steep stuff, stay safe and above all BE NICE,
Al Hospers
The White Mountain Report
North Conway, New Hampshire
| My mother used to rock me — and she used big rocks. |
| Rodney Dangerfield |
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