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I drove down to DC last Thursday to visit with my sister and her family. For some reason I had it in my mind that it would be a 10 hour drive. I don't know where I got that, but even at cruise-speed it was 11 1/2. WHEW! That's quite a solo haul. Fortunately a breakfast bagel sandwich from Bagels Plus and cappuccino with a double espresso shot from Frontside got me started right. [grin]
It was a great visit with family and I took a bass along, so I got to play some jazz with my best friend Jeff Loewer. Among other things I got over to Arlington Cemetery to see where my dad and mom are interned, as well my aunt and uncle. As always it was quite special for all of us. On the way back north I stopped over in Philly to visit with my son Lewis and then in NY to see my other son David. I ran by the place I lived in Brooklyn for giggles, and it's all gentrified and upscale, but the pizza place by Pratt is still there & still as great as it was. As this was a family trip, so I didn't have time to stop in at the Gunks for a climb, or even any bouldering. However, I wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway as the nor'easter really dumped a lot of rain in DC, Philly and NY. When I left NY on Wednesday morning it showered and was windy most of the way through Connecticut and Massachusetts, but starting in NH it cleared off. When I rode over the Kanc there was a lot of running water everywhere and the river was really raging. Arriving home around 3pm I noticed that we had lost power for a bit, but thankfully there had been no damage in spite of the winds and rain we got here. [whew] I guess we dodged that bullet. It was 38 when I went out this morning to to errands and take a few pix of the Valley. The foliage is mostly done, but it's still pretty.
I got a call from my friend Jeff Lea on my drive home yesterday. He too was on his way up so we decided to try to get out for a couple of pitches this afternoon. The plan was to wait till around 1:30 or so - the "heat of the day". [LOL] We were going to do one of the two new routes right of Beginners, but they were damp in places so we opted for Beginners itself. The start was a bit damp, but you could avoid it fairly easily and the rest of the 3 pitches we did was just fine. It was a little cool, but not annoying until we were walking out. It was so so great to get in a climb after a week of sitting and driving.
INSTANT ICE REPORT: 0
Nothing in low or higher elevations yet. But it's going to be coming soon. While I was away there was some ice & snow on the summit and that portends what's to come! Stay tuned friends...
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:
I got my Moderna vaccine booster at a CVS in Reston VA last Friday, right after it was approved. It was easy and basically painless and I was excited to be able to get it. Apparently here in the Valley you can get it through the Memorial Hospital clinic at the old Observatory building, as well as at most of the pharmacies in town, and of course at your Dr's office. If you haven't gotten yours, I hope you will do so ASAP. Just like my initial shots, I had absolutely no after effects.
NH is currently seeing 500-550 new cases a day on average, with a testing positivity rate of 6 percent! Obviously this is NOT a good trend to be seeing. With cases rising, the Governor said New Hampshire health officials will finally resume a weekly COVID-19 update. FWIW Maine never stopped their weekly briefings.
Here's more about the $27 million federal money rejected by the Executive Council last week:
After rejecting $27 million in federal money for vaccine outreach at their last meeting, Republican executive councilors joined Democratic Councilor Cinde Warmington to approve a much smaller amount of $4.7 million Wednesday to help vaccinate 5- to 11-year-olds, who are expected to be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine as early as next month.
That amount represents less than 20 percent of the $27 million the council voted down and will allow the state to do only a fraction of its planned vaccine outreach, said Kristine Stoddard, director of New Hampshire public policy at the Bi-State Primary Primary Care Association.
Stoddard said while the money will help Federally Qualified Health Centers administer vaccines to their population of 5- to 11-year-olds – a number she put at fewer than 20,000 – it will not support the more than 500 sites administering COVID-19 vaccines to the remaining 100,000 children in that age group. Also, some of the money councilors voted down would have supported the state’s equity efforts to reach populations disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
--NPR
New Hampshire:
11 new deaths reported
377 new cases reported
4,232 Active cases
207 patients are currently hospitalized
1,532 total deaths
United States:
Confirmed: 45,711,182
Deaths: 741,372
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:
Since I've been away, obviously I didn't get in a local ride this week. However I did do a nice ride on the bike paths in Reston VA where I was. A lot of other places have great systems of paved multi-use trails that go everywhere. We rode over to Wolf Trap which was a 14 mile r/t ride, but if I'd had a decent bike we could have done a great 20 mile (each way) ride into DC, right to the mall and the Washington Memorial. It reminds me of the bike path that goes from center city Philly, through Mannyunk and all the way out to Vally Forge. These are paved trails that are used pretty much constantly and even plowed in the winter! There is one in Fryeburg that's very popular and it's a shame it's not connected to North Conway. Maybe someday... I had my MTB tuned up and brake pads replaced while I was away and I'm planning to get out tomorrow afternoon. I gotta figure that there will be some muddy spots here & there after all that rain, but that's all just a part of the sport.
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.
