Like reading the White Mountain Report every week? Why not get it delivered to your e-mailbox every Thursday? All you have
to do is subscribe. It's fast, painless, and best of all it doesn't cost you
a dime!
Once again I'm getting this here Report out a day early due to various stuff going on. As a very good friend oft-times says; "There are times when life does get in the way..." I hope that's OK with all of you. Hopefully I'll get back "on track" next week. That said, there is a lot of stuff happening up here in the hinterlands...
GO RED SOX
For one thing the weather has really started to change. Tho today is sure a pretty one, the 2 days previously were a bit on the funky side. Especially yesterday which was windy, cloudy, felt like it could rain any minute and never got above 50. I got out for a MTB ride mid-morning and was happy that I was in the woods instead of on the road. At times the wind was really howling. Felt more like mid-November than October. But hey, it's NH so who knows. Here's a couple of pix I took this morning. While there still is some foliage out there too, it's going to be gone soon.
I also posted a short teaser pre-ice video on FB and Instagram.
I'm still hoping for some more days on rock before we go full-in on ice. But of course that's probably a product of my having been so busy this summer that I didn't get out quite as much as I wanted. There are a couple of things on my list that one in particular is going to be better when I get to it - the upper tier of My Willard! I'd climbed darn near all of these one day about 10 years ago with Paul Cormier. I was impressed at the time and I seem to remember writing up something about it at the time, but I can't find it. However I did document the routes on NEClimbs.com and can find them in the Mt Willard section of the route guide here:
Pretty much all the bolts on these routes were with homemade hangers, so last week Paul got back up there & replaced them. Here's what he had to say about it:
"26 bolts in 2 days of work. Coupled with the work that was done in 2018, we are up to around 40 new stainless bolts up there. Thank you Sara Reeder, and Joe Cormier for your hard work! These routes are among the finest routes I have ever done. There is no reason not to climb them now. The granite is perfect. The situation is perfect! We even added a bolt to the second pitch of the End of the Universe, and a bolted belay at the top. It's time to climb!!! EVERY ONE OF MY CLIMBS UP ON UPPER WILLARD HAS BEEN REBUILT. Please enjoy them. PS. Serpentine has not been redone."
Kudos to all 3 for their efforts. Take it from me, it really does take a lot of work, and $$ for that matter, to put up and maintain routes. While there are only 2 moderate lines, Ground Control and Sales Pitch, if you are comfortable at ~5.10 I recommend it.
Ice Conditions Report:
Selected Ice Conditions effective April 24, 2024
It's all over for 2023/2024.
Huntington Ravine
OUT
Repentance
OUT
Standard Route
OUT
Dracula
OUT
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
SOME LOCAL/NATIONAL PANDEMIC THOUGHTS:
Numbers are going significantly up in Coos and Sullivan counties above the Notch and the hospitals are getting overwhelmed. The local high school, Kennett, is very close to a Code Red situation and may be forced into a full mask mandate at the very least. And while this all is going on, there are people still denying that there is even a pandemic! [face palm]
=====
A judge dismissed a request to stop enforcing a mask-wearing policy at a number of school districts in New Hampshire’s Rockingham County.
Parents of children in the districts alleged in a lawsuit filed in August that wearing masks causes their children to have difficulty breathing, develop facial acne and rashes, suffer anxiety and experience headaches.
The parents challenged the legality of mask mandates on the grounds that they violate a state law prohibiting the use of “dangerous restraint techniques” in schools; that the school districts lack the authority to issue mask mandates and that the state Health Department’s authority under regulations concerning communicable diseases conflicts with the mandates.
Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Marguerite Wageling ruled on Saturday that the plaintiffs haven’t established a likelihood of success on their arguments.
The parents sued school districts in Exeter, Brentwood, Kensington, and Stratham.
-The Associated Press
=====
Meanwhile back in the "trenches:
New Hampshire:
8 new deaths reported
377 new cases reported
4,232 Active cases
198 patients are currently hospitalized
1,532 total deaths
United States:
Confirmed: 45,161,398
Deaths: 729,434
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 rode the Electric Loop on the West Side a few days ago and other than a few slightly damp spots, it was in great shape. The only issue I had was that in a few spots you really couldn't tell where the actual trail was! If you didn't know you would likely have to stop and look carefully. The leaves are really obscuring things now. I was a bit concerned that the long bridge would be slippery, but it was fine. Then I went out yesterday, Tuesday, with my friend Phil O. He had to take his car to Frechette for a brake job, so we met there. We rode out Passaconaway Rd to High Street, up to the intersection with Red's snowmobile trail, took a left on Christmas Tree Lane to the Muzzy Bench and down Shumway. From there we climbed back up Lucille's to the cut-across on the left, back down Shumway and then rode alongside the RR tracks back to Frechette. All in all about 6.5 miles, 400' of climbing in a paltry 1:15. My attitude is to get in the regular MTB rides while I can. When the snows come, it will be a while before things will be packed out for the fat tire bike.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20211020/bike.jpg
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
The thrashing movements gave me the shuddering thought that if the stitching came apart, I would burst through the bottom and plunge two thousand feet. My life was hanging on the threads of an Oldham seamstress.
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.
