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On Tuesday I took a ride up Crawford Notch to check on the fire at Frankenstein. FYI, and partly to see if Sawyer River Road and Mt Clinton Roads were open. I stopped in to chat with Bill King who owns the house at the top of Arethusa Road. Fortunately and somewhat surprisingly the fire hasn't affected his house or property. He said that Monday night they got 1.5" of rain which did help to knock the fire back a bit.
While I was talking with Bill, several teams of firefighters went in and out on the tracks towards Fang. There was no obvious smoke, but the director told me that the fire was underground along the cliff band and up on the ridge. We've had more rain since then, so hopefully that has made a difference. Reports on Wednesday indicate that the fire encompasses over 100 acres and was only 25% contained! As you can imagine, it's pretty difficult terrain to be dealing with. It's one thing to be clambering around in snow and ice with crampons and quite another in boots with shovels. Plus they can't get water up there, so it's all about scraping out fire lines! Let's hope for more rain...
Selected Ice Conditions effective February 19, 2026
Just as you would expect following Ice Fest AND a week of truly balmy temps, going to be upper 30's today, the ice can be a mixed bag. I saw someone post about how things are terrible. But digging into it, I realized they were talking about places like the North End that are very well used. It probably gets the most use of all. There are only a few places that have really easy access to moderate climbing and where you can set up a bunch of top-ropes. So that's not unexpected. And of course the climbs that are getting a lot of full sun are getting somewhat punked-out. On my way back from Wolfeboro mid-afternoon a few days ago I took a look at Rainbow Slabs which look as if they are getting pretty funky. And I watched a hunk of the bottom of Way In The Wilderness fall down! IMO it's really the time to start paying attention to what you're walking underneath, any time of the day. Enjoy this weather, but keep paying attention...
Huntington Ravine
numerous options
Repentance
iffy
Standard Route
GREAT conditions
Dracula
IN & very fat
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
CATHEDRAL LEDGE ROAD CLOSURE:
Cathedral Ledge Road will be closed from 5/31-6/2 for paving. I'm not sure where it will start, but be prepared to hoof in through the woods for a few days and DO NOT park in the housing development or, just like in the winter, you may be towed.
PEREGRINE CLIFF CLOSINGS:
I hadn't heard anything yet from Chris Martin about the list of closings for Peregrines this year, so I gave him a call. I participated in about 10 years of banding on the Painted Walls and Cathedral Ledge. The birds are incredible and well worth the relatively minimal time and inconvenience of protecting them. Here's a list of the primary areas that are currently restricted.
Rumney: Main Cliff
Cathedral Ledge: Repentance & Remission
Franconia Notch: The Eaglet Spire
Holt's Ledge: all is closed
Band M: The Steps area
Woodchuck: right side of cliff
Russell Craig: Main cliff
Frankenstein: none
Painted Walls: none
Whitehorse Ledge: none
Here's a few peregrine pictures I took over the years.
INSTANT BUG REPORT:
Clearly we're a 4 right now. If the black flies aren't going for you, the mosquitoes are. And then there are the caterpillars!! These little beasts aren't deterred by bug dope, DEET or otherwise, and they can cause some horrible rashes.
SOME LOCAL/NATIONAL PANDEMIC THOUGHTS:
Nothing more to say than this...
UNITED STATES DEATHS: 1,001,274
New Hampshire:
11 New death(s) reported
4,609 Active cases
41 Current hospitalizations for COVID
2,513 Total deaths due to COVID-19
United States:
Confirmed: 82,955,985
Deaths: 1,001,274
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 had work done on my car on Monday morning, so I got in another road ride down Passaconaway and up the Kanc to Rocky Gorge and back. I'm pretty nervous about being on the road, but there weren't many cars, so it felt OK. Marshall is in great shape now. Only a little mud, in spite of occasional deluges. I haven't ridden the East Side lately, but I understand that once you get around the work on the Rec Path, you are good to go. Sawyer River Road is open and in good shape now. Mt Clinton is also open and I heard that Jefferson Notch Road is as well. All are on my radar for the next week or two.
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.
