Like reading the White Mountain Report every week? Why not get it delivered to your e-mailbox every Thursday? All you have
to do is subscribe. It's fast, painless, and best of all it doesn't cost you
a dime!
To quote legendary Red Sox baseball announcer Joe Castiglione, "Can you believe it?" Right now let's just believe the fact that it was 38 degrees in Crawford Notch this morning at 11 and it's 40 here in the Valley at 3:30. There's not a lot more to say than it's like mid-March in early February! WOW
NEW BOOK REVIEW:
If you haven't seen it, there is a new book review on NEClimbs.com of Inner Ranges by Geoff Powter. Dennis Crean did a great job on this review and this is one I have to read very soon. Check it out...
MUSICAL NOTES:
If you didn't see the Grammys on Sunday, the hit of the show was Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs doing a duet of Tracy's tune Fast Car. IMO it was the hit of the show. The full performance hasn't been on line until the Grammys themselves posted it. I can't encourage you enough to watch it.
There was a great article in The Atlantic about the performance and music in general. Here is the final paragraph, which really mirrors my feelings about music…
“Music has the power to move us, to refine and ennoble our sensibilities, to take us places—sometimes transcendent places—that other things simply can’t. Rhythm and harmony find their way to the innermost soul, Plato wrote, imparting grace. But music requires musicians, and on Sunday night, America was witness to two very special ones. They were repairers of the breach, and we briefly shared not just a continent, but a country.”
-Peter Wehner - contributing writer at The Atlantic
Ice Conditions Report:
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
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.
