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March 30, 2023
Hi Folks,
So I'm sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast at 6:30am when all of a sudden it went from sunny, to a full-on snow squall and the temperature dropped 5 degrees! YIKES, that sure was something. A bit later I headed up to the Notch 9:30 it was still cloudy, a little blowing snow and darn cold. It was even colder in Crawford Notch so that put a bit of a change in my plans...
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Squall.jpg
The original idea was to do pictures and then walk down the tracks and do Monkey Wrench to Cleft. But sitting at the parking lot up there it was 15 degrees, howling wind and blowing snow. Hmmm... I'd seen a FB post from White Mountain NEMBA that they had re-groomed the trails at Rogers Crossing and I had put the fat bike in the car, just in case. So I drove back to the Dry River Campground to do the video report. On the way I stopped for a minute to chat with a couple walking up the road to go to Shoestring via the old way! Apparently they didn't know that everyone was now going in via the AT trail and banging the left a bit after the bridge. They seemed determined to try crossing the stream and I hope that worked for them.
I did my video and headed back to Rogers Crossing. It turns out that was the right choice as the trails were solid and tho it was still mid-20's and windy, it was pretty nice in the woods. I only saw one young lady on the trail and ran into Kristen and Dave Karl just as I was leaving and they were pulling into the parking lot.
The big swings in the weather has made things interesting, if not actually entertaining. On my way to Jackson on Wednesday I drove by Humphrey's and there were 7 parked cars! The ambient 50 degrees must have made for 60 on the face! With virtually no danger from ice above and the warm brown rock, it must have been great. That said, Cathedral and Whitehorse have quite a bit of ice and snow above the usual climbing areas. The North End crack area at Cathedral is directly below Unicorn, which has some really big blocks on the ledge. And as always the right side of Whitehorse has a lot of ice and snow on the upper slabs. The best option on Cathedral is probably the Barber Wall and on Whitehorse the South Buttress which has a similar aspect to Humphrey's.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Unicorn.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Whitehorse_right.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Whitehorse_ice.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Whitehorse_left.jpg
Just sayin'...
I have a couple of really fun gigs on tap that you may find interesting. I will be at the Top Of The 9th in Fryeburg on Friday March 31st with Bruce Marshall. This is a blues-rock band that really does rock. On Sunday April 2nd I will be playing a jazz brunch at the Public House on Page Hill in Chocoura/Tamworth. The food is great, the ambience and view is wonderful and the music will be very very good. Then on Thursday April 6th my own 5-piece funk/rock/blues band will be at the Wildcat Tavern in Jackson. For this show I'm bringing in Henley Douglas, an amazing sax player from the North Shore of Boston. If you like funky music, this will be IT. There is limited seating so I urge you to make your reservation now.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Henley_Wildcat.jpg
I'm doing a lot of great gigs this summer and you can see my most recent schedule here:
Al Music Schedule
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http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/dracula.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Frankenstein_right.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Frankenstein_Amphitheater.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/cinema.jpg
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Full Conditions Report
I've been out 4 times over the past week. Twice was on the fat tire bike and twice on the road. This is a funny time of year where it can be amazing riding on both. Sunday I rode the fat bike with Dave Karl from the Conway Grand almost all the way to the Kennett sand pit on East Conway Rd via the Corridor 19 snowmobile trails. It was a mix of crusty snow, soft snow, dirt and of course the obligatory mud! Regardless it was fun. The 2 days on the road bike were both in Jackson mainly on Carter Notch Road. This was basically just a way to get out and put in a few miles to see how I felt about it. Jackson is great for that since there are very few cars and it has some good hills. Today I rode on the groomed mountain bike trails at Rogers Crossing in Bartlett. They run through the woods between 302 and the Saco. With the colder temps last night, today and again tonight they should be good for a bit longer. Highly recommended.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Bike_CarterNotch-1.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Bike_CarterNotch-2.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20230330/Bike_RogersCrossing-1.jpg
NOTE - if you ride at Rogers Crossing please do NOT ride on the ski trails.
FROM NEMBA - Rogers Crossing is groomed all the way out into the Fields of Attitash. Overnight temps this week look good for morning rides. Enjoy it while it lasts, there's quite a bit of snow out there. If you're leaving a rut, it's TOO soft, don't be that person!
Thank You, the groomer.
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
| This is how they die, I thought. They pass out or freeze without caring. They die as spectators, believing it's all happening to someone else. I'd rather be fully alive and awake when I die, I want to be terrified. The last place I want to snuff it is on a slope no steeper than a beginner's ski hill. |
| Mark Twight |
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