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While not exactly "frightful", the weather has by no means been "delightful". I don't know what the totals are exactly, but we most certainly have had inches of rain over the past 7+ days. And of course that's made doing outdoor things at the very least awkward. [wry grin]
I was away in Philly from Friday-Monday visiting family. I drove down as usual, and IMNSHO that's a pretty unpleasant drive. I've done it many times, as well as the one all the way to DC, so I know it well. It's almost 9 hours to Philly, with some rest stops, and 11 1/2 on to DC. I've done lots of road trips in my 77 years, but honestly I don't find them very entertaining any more. At least not when I'm driving alone! Fortunately I managed to avoid the rain in both directions. [whew]
I was hoping that by the time I got home the weather would start being nice so I could get out for some riding and climbing. But unfortunately we are still in a wet period. You can tell that once the sun comes out and we warm up the grass and leaves will blast into full green-mode. Philly was well past that and generally temps were in the 70+ range, actually mid 80's on Friday when I got there. Of course on the plus side, the rain is keeping the pollen count in check.
The weather predictions going forward from Sunday look pretty nice, weather wise. I would guess that Monday-Wednesday would be great for climbing and hopefully the blackflys won't be happening quite yet. They ARE out there, just annoying and not yet biting. That will come tho, along with mosquitoes and ticks... My DEET is back in the pouch of my pack. I would advise the same.
SPRING CLEANUP AT JOCKEY CAP:
Friends of the Ledges will be hosting a cliff cleanup at The Jockey Cap Cliff on Saturday, May 17. We will meet from 3-6 pm. at the new “Jockey Cap Trailhead”, now located 2/10 mile east of the Molly Ockett Middle School in Fryeburg, Maine. The trailhead is on the left when heading east on route 302, past the Jockey Cap Store. Trash bags, bug spray and refreshments provided. Best to bring some work gloves as we'll be doing some light trail work in addition to removing trash and graffiti.
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
MUSICAL NOTES:
So after 2 weeks off, I have 3 gigs this weekend. AMAZING, huh? On Friday May 9 I'll be playing trio jazz at the Majestic Cafe in Conway Village 7-9 with my dear friends and long-time musical partners Mike Sakash on sax and Craig Bryan on drums. Then on Saturday May 10 I'll be at Ledge Brewing 7-9 with guitarist Jarrod Taylor and drummer Tim Gilmore. Finally on Sunday May 11th my band 5-piece band will be at Tuckerman Brewing 4-7 featuring Mike Sakash, Tom Robinson, Jarrod Taylor and Tim Gilmore. I'm really looking forward to all 3 of these gigs and each will be fun different. If the weather permits, the Ledge and Tuckerman ones will be outside. Stay tuned...
>
If you're interested you can always see my schedule here:
http://www.alhospers.com/?PageName=2
VALLEY CYCLING:
I got in some fun riding on my road bike last Saturday in Philly. The multi-use path there from center city out past manhunt is pretty darn amazing. And on top of that, the park is closed to vehicles on the weekend so that's fun too. Here in our hood, there's been a lot of work going on to clean up the local MTB trails and make some new additions. Most of the downhill trails in the Hurricane Zone have been prepped and are good to go. And the trails on the east side are good as well. A new connector from just below the Redstone quarry over to the bottom of Swamp is a nice addition, as is a new connector between upper Rattlesnake and Swamp. Check them out. There is also logging going on over on state land around High Street, so be aware of that. As I understand it, the Marshall trails are untouched. Downhill at Cranmore will open on Memorial Day and I'm looking forward to that again.
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.
