Like reading the White Mountain Report every week? Why not get it delivered to your e-mailbox every Thursday? All you have
to do is subscribe. It's fast, painless, and best of all it doesn't cost you
a dime!
Welp, so far this is truly been a winter to remember! We had a very cold January and plenty of snow... Then February has been all over the place, fortunately not quite as cold. But the most interesting thing is what just went down over the past several daze. EPIC snowfall from about 100 miles south of us, down through NJ and all along the coast, and virtually nothing here in the Valley. Yet more than 3' in Cranston RI!!! YIKES
And then - go figure - we got 3-4" of nice powder Wednesday morning. It just goes to show you the range of winter New England can provide. I was talking with a variety of friends over the past couple of days about the snowfall. From what I understand, the ski areas have stopped snowmaking. All except Black Mountain I guess, since they insist on being the very last ski area standing! [wry grin] Since I'm not a skier, as far as I'm concerned we have a plentiful amount of snow out there. I have 3+ feet in my back yard and that's certainly going to take a while to melt out. But the real thing for me is that more snow, makes riding the fat bike more problematic. The NEMBA crew does a great job grooming the trails, but it gets a little funky with more snow. And as good as the powder is for skiing, it simply doesn't pack and groom well. But I get the "there's never enough snow" thing.
PETZL NOMIC & ERGONOMIC RECALL:
I have an early pair of ERGONOMIC's that I've been very happy with and fortunately they are fine. That said, I do know folks that have the ones that are problematic. So do be sure to check your tools. You most certainly don't want to have a problem. As Petzl says;
"The failure occurs with no warning signs or possibility of prior detection."
Petzl has announced a recall of certain batches of NOMIC (U021AA00) and ERGONOMIC (U022AA00) ice axes due to a risk of breakage at the handle that could cause the climber to fall. The Petzl warning advises climbers to stop using the affected ice axes immediately and contact its customer service department for a handle replacement. Please refer to the English version official recall information for full details. Includes: technical details, products impacted, how to submit a recall and FAQs.
Selected Ice Conditions effective February 26, 2026
The '26 ice season has been quite good. Sure there are places where it didn't really happen - Snot Rocket, Machine, etc. But the classics are all in and overall still in great shape. AND we didn't get one of those early-winter warm-up events that put a hard reset on the season. We are scheduled for a bit of a warmup through Sunday, and that should be a good thing. Frankly we need to get some flow happening for a refresh before it gets cold again. And it will. After all, it ain't spring yet!
Huntington Ravine
numerous options
Repentance
iffy
Standard Route
GREAT conditions
Dracula
very fat
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
MT WASHINGTON OBSERVATORY VALLEY WEATHER:
Low pressure will exit the region this morning as high pressure builds in from the west into Friday morning. As the high shifts offshore, a much stronger clipper will then approach Friday afternoon into Friday night.
Low pressure, which swung through a cold front overnight, will continue to exit this morning. Favorable upslope flow and low-level moisture will keep mostly cloudy skies this morning before clearing towards the afternoon. High pressure building in from the west will begin to mix drier air down later this morning into the evening, allowing a clearing trend to begin overhead, with mostly clear skies expected by Thursday evening. Fair weather skies will then prevail for much of Thursday night. The high will then crest and begin to shift offshore Friday morning. The return flow around the high and a warm front associated with the stronger Clipper, now located over central Canada will cause clouds to thicken by Friday afternoon into Friday evening, with perhaps a spotty rain shower or two around this time. The warm front will then pass through Friday evening, with the Valley remaining in the warm sector for much of Friday night, with skies potentially clearing to become partly cloudy towards daybreak on Saturday.
Temperatures will struggle to rise above the 20s as cold air continues to flow in behind the cold front which passed Wednesday night. After a calm, relatively clear night Thursday, temperatures will then slowly increase as a return flow sets up behind the cresting high Friday. Friday night behind the warm front, overnight lows will be much warmer than Thursday night, staying in the 20s.
MW AVALANCHE CENTER: MODERATE
You could trigger a small avalanche in wind-drifted snow on steep east-facing slopes. Look for pillowy drifts of smooth snow to identify potential areas of unstable snow. Traveling on textured and hard snow surfaces limits your exposure to triggering an avalanche today.
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:
At this point the best riding is on Marshall & the snow machine trails on the East side. I rode the latter on Tuesday and they were great. You can ride from Hemlock all the way to East Conway Rd and beyond! Tho it's not very wide, you can also ride the Rec Path.
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.
