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September 21, 2023
Hi Folks,
Having lived here in this tourist town for almost 27 years now, I savor the so called "shoulder seasons". While not what they used to be, they still serve to us locals a bit of a break. We can actually drive right through town, find a parking space reasonably near the entrance at the grocery store and not wait in a checkout like for 15 minutes and heck - maybe even get a table in Delaney's or The Parka without a 20+ minute wait.
Of course I'm talking weekdays, not weekends, but it's still a major plus. It reminds me of finding the right day and time to get on Thin Air, Standard Route or Gelsa and Easy O at the Gunks. And with all the new hotels and restaurants going up it's only going to make these valued times shorter. But that's the way of the world now I suppose.
Off and on we've had some amazing weather interspersed with some intense rain events. It held off for the Rumney Classic last weekend, tho a little on the cool and slightly damp side. But then we got a dump of 2" in a single day, which kind of sucked. That said the long range projections are showing a great week ahead. So we might actually wind up the month in true Send-tember fashion. Stay tuned.
I think the annoying bug population has dropped off a bit, at least as far as I can tell. Standing at the base3 of the cliff isn't killing you, as long as it's not in the deep woods. Will that last, who knows? But I can even split and stack wood with out bug dope right now, and that's a yuge plus!
I rode the Cranmore "bike park" twice last weekend and overall it was very fun. Even tho there were some funky spots low in the berms. And speaking of that... On Sunday Phil O and I did all the Cranmore downhills and then decided to ride across to the Kettle Korn Connector that takes you to the intersection of Tornado, Kettle Ridge and Sendero. There were 3 other riders already there who had come up Kettle Ridge. One headed down Tornado right away and the other Sendero. We chatted with the third for a minute and he decided to go down Tornado first, I followed and Phil took up the rear - all with plenty of room between. About 1/3 of the way down I heard a yell from the guy in front of me at a somewhat steep right turn. When I got there he was off the bike and looking at his front wheel which was totally "tacoed"! [YIKES] He said that just as he made the turn the wheel collapsed and of course froze and threw him off. Fortunately he didn't go off down the hill into the woods on riders left and wasn't hurt! We looked at his bike and there was nothing we could to make it rideable, so he had to walk and drag it down Tornado to Hurricane Highway, and then all the way across to Kettle Ridge, down that and eventually to the water tank and Hurricane Mountain Road. When something like this happens there is no "escape hatch" to get yourself and the bike back to civilization. In addition he had ridden his bike from hime and had to call his wife to pick him up. All in all quite a mess.
So after determining that we couldn't really help and that he was OK we headed on down. At the steepest right hand turn, another 50 yards or so down, I didn't take the highest line and caught a rut toward the bottom of the turn. It threw me off the bike. Fortunately it didn't hurt the bike and I only ended up with some minor rash on my right knee and elbow. I've ridden this trail at least 40 times since it was created, but you need to be more careful than usual now at the end of the season as things have changed a bit with all the rain. I'm glad I now have a full face helmet, pads and good reinforced gloves.
Remember - climb hard, ride the twisty stuff, wear a helmet, stay safe - and above all BE NICE.
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
| Life is brought down to the basics: if you are warm, regular, healthy, not thirsty or hungry, then you are not on a mountain... Climbing at altitude is like hitting your head against a brick wall — it's great when you stop. |
| Chris Darwin |
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