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The wind was howling all day Wednesdayt and the temps were very low, leaving us with very low wind chills. It was brutal. There were limbs coming off trees and it was kind of unsafe to be in the woods! Several friends decided to take their walks on the roads instead of in the woods!
I know I keep harping on the changes to the winter season and pushing the Freeze/Thaw video. And with the weather now having turned frikkin' COLD once again, you must be wondering why I'm still babbling about it. But things have definitely changed. Here's another very well respected local guide's opinion...
BY MATTY BOWMAN:
"For those of us who work in the outdoors, it’s been a roller coaster of a season. While guiding in the mountains has always been hazardous, these last few years have felt more problematic."
"Each week conditions feel different. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Overall a bit frustrating. Last week we had winter ice, over the weekend it was spring ice conditions (screws melting out in the shade, falling ice/overhead hazards)."
"I definitely miss the ''old days'' of winter, when we had a ''January thaw'' and then settled in until spring. I fear those days have passed and we’re seeing the end to the iconic New England winter scene.
In the meantime, outdoor industry folks will keep working around the conditions, chasing good ice and snow, always hopeful next week things will improve."
"I’m sharing a video (on FB and Instagram) of me putting a rope on a New Hampshire Classic called Dracula, in Crawford Notch State Park. If a climber hasn’t led this pitch, they have it on their to-do list. It’s the standard for WI4 (graded water ice 4), as many of us use it when referencing or grading other climbs. It forms in a shaded corner. It’s typically one of the first valley climbs to form each season, and the last to fall down."
-->From Al<--
In a subsequent post in his thread he mentioned that I'd told him the story how George and I used to mail in our taxes on April 15th, and then go climb Dracula. We probably did this 3-4 years in a row maybe 10+ years ago. It became a bit of a tradition... We didn't stop doing it because we were too old. LOL We stopped because it ceased being safe! What a shame...
MUSICAL NOTES:
I will be with the Jarrod Taylor Jazz trio at Page Hill in Tamworth on Thursday evening, with the Randy Roos Trio at the Majestic Cafe in Conway Village on Friday and then with my jam-band at Ledge Brewing on Saturday. Please come out to one, or shucks come to all.
Ice Conditions Report:
Selected Ice Conditions effective December 19, 2025
Friday December 19 at 3:40 - it's 52 degrees and raining1 Almost all of the snow is already off my roof. It's supposed to go below freezing overnight, but get back above 32 during Saturday. You may want to seriously consider giving things a few days to recover. Just sayin...
Huntington Ravine
OK
Repentance
OUT
Standard Route
IN
Dracula
IN, mostly
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
Of course the usual pictures will be on NEClimbs.com and FaceBook if available.
VALLEY CYCLING:
There will be a day or two of soft stuff after this light snow, but otherwise the riding is great. Lots of packed-out groomed trails to ride right now.
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.
