My goodness, hasn't spring come on with a huge rush? We've gone from winter to full-on spring conditions and I'm excited! Sure, I love winter and ice season, but this has been a long one and frankly I'm ready for the change. One fortunate thing is that we haven't had the torrential rains that sometime accompany the switchover to warmer weather. We all have been expecting a big mud season, but that may not happen. My back yard has gone from 5+ feet of packed snow to under 3 feet and it's all soaking right into the ground. And so far the streams and rivers have just gradually risen, without the huge jams and blocks of ice that we got last year. You know what? I'll take it!
Can you get a pair of good quality leather gloves that you can climb ice in for less than the cost of 2 sixes of good beer? It's hard to imagine that this would be the case. Read on and see....
Jacob's Ladder -
5.10c
Nice climbing with a variety of situations. The first 2 pitches take you to the tree ledge and are only slightly harder than Hoter Than Hell or Cold Day In Hell.
The wall was the ambition. The style bacame the obsession.
—Alex MacIntyre
View from the top of what may be the last ice climb of the season...
Willies Slide, Crawford Notch
Selected Ice Conditions effective April 12, 2014
As far as I am concerned the ice in the lower elevations is finished and all that's left for this year is up on Mt Washington. I am officially considering this year's ice season concluded for all practical purposes and this will be the last Ice report for this season. While there looks to be some ice in the pictures, trust me that in general it is not worth the effort and in many cases would be very dangerous to attempt to climb!
Huntington Ravine
many options - beware of avalanche danger
Repentance
OUT
Standard Route
OUT
Dracula
OUT
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
Latest Article: Making A V-Thread
V-thread ice anchors are an easy, secure and inexpensive rappel anchor for ice climbing. In this article I will describe how to make the anchor, how to use it, what kind of gear is needed, and how to make your own tool. Everything about v-threading is easy and they have become popular at ice crags all over the world.
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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.
