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August 25, 2022
Hi Folks,
It's been a very busy week, and today was a full one for sure. So - it's 5 pm, it's Thursday afternoon, and that makes it the right time to grab a cold Tuckerman Pale Ale, turn on the trusty computer and bang out this week's Report.
The original plan for today was to climb at Found Ledge with a couple of friends. However, it rained on Tuesday and Wednesday, very heavily Tuesday evening, so my thought was that both Lost and Found would be seeping so I bailed. I got up this morning and it was foggy and wet. I took a sort walk in the woods and when I got back I had to change shoes and socks! So I figured I would practice for an hour and ride my road bike up Bear Notch Rd. It's a go-to fat bike ride, but has been a while since I've done that in the summer. The drive over to the base of Bear Notch was totally dry, but the hillclimb was wet here & there. Afterward I drove over and down the Kanc and the road was damp here & there.
It had been a great ride, but after I got home and did some work around the house the sun was really beaming. I just couldn't stay inside. HMMM... I figured what the heck, I would head and run a few laps on the Wall Of The Hurley Morning Light at the top of Cathedral. I'd be on a top rope, so if it was damp I'd be just fine. The past few times I've been there no one had been around, so I was a bit surprised to see Alain Comeau and one of his military training groups there. But they were just finishing up so I waited a little bit, threw down my rope and ran some laps. The ground was damp so I had to clean my shoes off before each climb, but that was fine. And the 5 short lines were exactly what I needed.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220825/climb_1.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220825/climb_2.jpg
Here's a little hint when you're running a TR setup where you might be repeatedly weighting the rope, which I never did BTW. [wry grin] You put a biner in the knot so you can release it if it's cinched down. I find this particularly useful with groups and in the winter. I stole it from master guide Kevin Mahoney.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220825/tip.jpg
So that was my day. It was just one of those ones where I felt I just had to wring whatever I could out of it. Not quite my 4 sport spring day kind of thing, but good enough. I sure hope you all savored yours.
Tomorrow, Friday August 26th, I will be at the Majestic Cafe in Conway Village as a duo with my friend Alex Minasian, a fantastic NY based jazz pianist. Doors at 6:30, starts at 7pm. Then on Saturday the 27th the Jim McLaughlin Band will be at Ledge Brewing in Intervale from 6-9. It's where we all met for Ice Fest last year. This is a very cool jam band that plays all the tunes you know, but you may not recognize them. [HA] All in good fun and the beer is great! Come by after you finish climbing...
Yup the bugs are darn minimal, other than the usual ticks & some mosquitoes. Oh yes, and some GD deer-flys that chase you down when you're out on the bike! And they BITE, YEOW...
The American Alpine Club is teaming up with CAMP Technical Adventure Equipment for the biggest gathering of NE climbers: the Rumney Craggin' Classic this September 16-18!
This 3-day grassroots festival features clinics led by professional climbers and local guides on topics ranging from intro to climbing outside, self-rescue, anchor building, and more. Get ready to dance to live music, get inspired, eat delicious local food, sip beverages, snag wicked good deals on gear, and make your corner of the Earth a little better by participating in a crag stewardship project! What makes these events truly exceptional is the community of passionate and friendly folks who show up to celebrate our shared vertical pursuits. So, whether you're new to clipping bolts or have been projecting routes for decades, we want to welcome you to the Rumney Craggin' Classic!
Conway has 29 new cases in the past 14 days. Is this going up, down or are we in a plateau? According to the experts, it's hard to say. That's mainly because the majority of testing is being done at home. And some significant of those numbers aren't being reported to their doctors or to the CDC. So most of the reported trends are based on hospitalizations and deaths. In the community there is a pretty clear sense that COVID is still pretty prevalent in the area. I jeep hearing that people I know and family members are testing positive and quarantining for the most part. On occasion I hear that someone I either know, or a relative, has gotten quite sick. Or in one case died from COVID! In the latter case, the person wasn't vaccinated. This has become more unusual as more people are vaccinated. But it happens. So I still generally wear my mask where I think appropriate and continue to wash my hands all the time.
New Hampshire:
5 New death(s) reported over past 5 days
1,718 Active cases
27 Current hospitalizations being treated for COVID
2,652 Total deaths due to COVID-19
United States:
Confirmed: 93,908,958
Deaths: 1,042,432
Global:
Confirmed: 598,748,808 (up over 4 MILLION)
Deaths: 6,472,439
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
As I mentioned before, I got out on the road bike today. Bear Notch Road is one of my fave rides and even in the summer the Bartlett climb side usually isn't all that busy. There were some cars today, but they were generally respectful. As always it was a pretty good uphill and a fast downhill. In fact I didn't have a single car behind me on the way down! Go figure... If I'd had my mountain bike I would have done the Experimental Forest road down, but it would have been too bumpy for the regular road bike.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220825/BearNotch.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20220825/Strava.jpg
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
| It lasted but a year of two, till all the routes were done. The pace so fast that most forgot that climbing could be fun. |
| John Sherman |
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