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Amazingly enough, through all of this warmth, much of the ice hung in. That is most certainly due to the very cold December. Many things formed fairly well, and even now we had some nights that were cold enough to help rebuild the climbs that were somewhat fat. A good example is Diagonal. The wall was almost clear after the last big rain, but started building again during a cold snap right afterward. Enough that it attracted the attention of Peter Doucette and Ryan Driscoll! I was on my way home from an early gym session Tuesday morning and just noticed that there was someone on the dike! Knowing full well what was going on, I rushed home and grabbed the big camera and took a series of pictures over the next hour.
Ryan led the dike pitch, which is anything but a give-away. I've done it twice in the summer, and it has some pretty serious entertainment value. [wry grin] Both times I only climbed up to the belay left of the pillar. In the summer the upper chimney is full of poison ivy, most certainly not something I have any interest in. [LOL] They did that pitch in rock shoes, which makes things much easier. I could see Peter's boots hanging on his back as he followed up the dike. That said, you do have to switch your shoes in a fairly uncomfortable location.
It was sunny and close to 37 degrees most of the time that they were climbing. Peter commented to me, "Temps were a little too warm up there for comfort - we need the cold that's coming next week to lock that thing back on." Considering that those of us here in the neighborhood have heard a lot of ice coming down in the beginning of the week, I gotta agree. I certainly do understand why Peter climbed around on the upper part of the pillar where it was shady.
As Dr John famously said "...sometimes you just in the right place, at the right time..." Here's a few of the more interesting of the pix I took. Enjoy...
Selected Ice Conditions effective January 15, 2026
Everything should be solid by Saturday, and the weekend should be great. As always after a thaw it's important to evaluate just how well the ice is attached to the rock and how much water is running. And also how frozen the turf still is. Diagonal was done on Tuesday, and pillar fell down on Thursday! I'm still predicting lots of ice in good shape for Ice Fest in early February. Stay tuned...
Huntington Ravine
numerous options
Repentance
Silas Rossi did it on 1/6... MIXED!
Standard Route
GOOD
Dracula
IN & fat
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
MT WASHINGTON OBSERVATORY VALLEY WEATHER:
The center of an approaching low-pressure system will move overhead Thursday afternoon, dragging a cold front through early Thursday night. Upper-level ridging builds in behind this system on Friday, as a weakening area of low-pressure progresses towards New England late Friday night.
As a low-pressure system progresses over New England, a mix of rain and snow will fall at lower elevations in the morning, before transitioning mostly to rain as temperatures rise well-above freezing through the day. As the center of the low-pressure moves directly overhead, precipitation becomes more scattered in nature in the afternoon. The cold front associated with this system makes its approach late Thursday afternoon, with temperatures falling late afternoon into the evening as colder air dives in. Winds will increase behind the front, and flow will shift out of the west, aiding the development of upslope snow showers overnight Thursday. Temperatures will dip back into the lower teens, with winds gusting up to 30mph as the pressure gradient tightens between the exiting low-pressure and a building ridge to our west. Winds will peak Friday morning into early afternoon before the gradient slowly relaxes into the evening. With the ridge building overhead, drier air then will work its way down, allowing skies to become mostly clear for much of the day. Winds will bottom out Friday evening, with skies overhead becoming increasingly cloudy and eventually entirely overcast as our next weather system dips southward from Canada over the Great Lakes region, then revolves eastward. This system will weaken as it approaches late Friday night into Saturday morning, but will lift a warm front through the region, shifting flow southwesterly once again and allowing temperatures to moderate some overnight. Scattered snow showers at all elevations will likely develop as the front lifts through, but with ample forcing absent, very light accumulations are expected.
MW AVALANCHE CENTER:
MODERATE - You could trigger an avalanche in drifted snow above 3000 feet on steep northern and eastern slopes. Look out for snow blowing at ridge-lines and bright white, soft drifts deeper than your boot tops for signs of this problem. Travel on old, hard snow surfaces to limit your exposure to unstable snow.
MUSICAL NOTES
It's been a somewhat slow start to '26, but at least the gigs I do have are all fun ones. [grin] This Friday I will be back at the Majestic Cafe in Conway with a great trio of Jarrod Taylor on guitar and Tim Gilmore on the drums. We have a bunch of new tunes on tap, ranging from Ornette to Pat Metheny to John Scofield, plus a couple of standards of course. As always there are good drinks, good food and good company.
If you are at all interested in what else is coming up with me musically, you can always see my schedule here: http://www.alhospers.com/?PageName=2
VALLEY CYCLING:
Rogers Crossing and Marshall were all groomed 2 days ago. In spite of the warmup and rain, they should be in good shape for Friday after the chill-down tonight. Studded tires are absolutely required and possibly even micro spikes. You truly don't want to put that foot down on a trail covered in ice!
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.
