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Well, not all that much to Report on this week to be frank. The biggest thing that happened in the Valley was the storm that came through around 9pm Monday night. Not really because of the rain, since we have had some pretty crazy rain events this summer. Inches in an hour! This was due to, wait for it, a single clap of thunder. I don't mean the kind of thunder we get on a regular basis in the summer from storms coming in over the Moats. Those almost always bring multiple bolts of lightning and rumbles of thunder.
I was practicing bass in my office/studio around 9pm when all of a sudden there was a clap of thunder and concussion that quite literally shook my house. I have a window that faces in the general direction of the Moats and in most storms I can see the flashes of lightning if there is any. This time there was nothing! The thunder, assuming that was what it was, lasted probably 20 seconds, from a rumble to a humungus bang. This was louder than any thunder clap I've ever heard, even when I was on a ridge in the Maroon Belles and a lightning bolt hit a few hundred yards from me. This was crazy loud and and heard/felt all over the Valley, from Intervale to downtown.
I do have to wonder if it actually was an earthquake, tho I haven't heard anything about it. In a way it goes along with the other weather events we have had this summer!
RE FOUND LEDGE:
I had asked about the status of the crag and finally someone said that it was fairly mossy. Considering the weather we have had this summer, I'm not surprised. I guess if I try going out there, a wire brush will be a requirement! SIGH
YES VIRGINIA - IT'S ICE FEST 2025:
I believe that it's never too early to announce that the date is set for the 2025 Ice Fest... Make your plans now friends.
It has been freaking cold all week and that has kick started the ice making, and thrown the season into hyper drive. Places that haven't formed up this well in a couple of years, are now fat. Not everything mind you, but a lot. The Frankenstein Amphitheater is a great case in point. It's been at least two years since we've had much in there to climb, and now almost everything is climbable. I've heard about people climbing Bob's and Hobbit, seen people on Chia and darn if Smear doesn't look close, if not fully climbable! Walk in the Forest is looking full, Standard Route looks in great shape and Dracula is fine. But the real fatty of them all looks like Penguin. I haven't seen that chimney that full in at least 10 years! It may be harder than ever simply because it doesn't look like there is a chimney to chimney in! There is stuff to climb on Mt Willard, but strangely overall it's a little behind. Gully 1 looks climbable, but not Madness and Cinema looks VERY thin. Upper Hitchcock has filled in a lot from what I've seen and there are other options. Here at cathedral Ledge things are reforming very well. While Repentance & Remission aren't in yet, they are building fast. And look at the pictures of Goofers and Diagonal. VERY neat! I've even seen pix of Kinsman and it looks good too.
Huntington Ravine
likely just fine
Repentance
building
Standard Route
looks good
Dracula
good
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
NECLIMBS HOME PAGE PICTURE:
For anyone who is wondering, this was the anchor on the pedestal on Thin Air! Kurt Winkler and I put the new rap anchor there, and it was chopped a short time later! The morning after the bolting meeting at Cranmore.
http://www.neclimbs.com/coverShots/20240815.jpg
THE FASTEST WOMAN TO SKI MOUNT BLANC | Anna DeMonte
I'm not a skier, but I'm sure impressed by this. It's well worth the view... ThnX to Phil Ostroski for the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOE_Ub11Pl0
INSTANT BUG REPORT - 2:
The bug conditions aren't nearly as bad as they have been. And that's a good thing. However, I know several folks who have gotten Lyme and another Anaplasmosis from ticks. So do a very careful check of your body after being out in the woods. Neither of these are pleasant, and they are not the only ones. Just sayin...
> MUSICAL NOTES:
Weather permitting I'll be at Rosa Flamingos in Bethlehem tonight with Jim McLaughlin. Saturday I have a wedding and then my regular Sunday jazz gig with the Rob Ames Quintet outside on the boardwalk at Weirs Beach from 6-9 for free.
VALLEY CYCLING:
More great riding can be found on the east side, west side and all around the town right now. GET ON IT...
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:
Remember - climb hard, ride the steep stuff, stay safe and above all BE NICE,
Al Hospers
The White Mountain Report
North Conway, New Hampshire
You've climbed the highest mountain in the world. What's left ? It's all downhill from there. You've got to set your sights on something higher than Everest.
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.
