September 23, 2004

Hi Folks,

CSI North Conway - hey, they have it for everywhere else, so why not here? On Wednesday I did the final bit of leg-work to totally convince myself that my suspicion that Woodchuck Ledge IS actually Eagle Ledge is correct. And yes, I was just a little bit uncertain! Brian Post came over at 9 AM and we hiked into Woodchuck. Although it is an easy hike, those hiking-with-a-pack muscles are definitely different than the riding-the-bike muscles! We looked around for a while, took some pictures and then climbed Oktoberfest (one all the way to the right side of the cliff), all the way to the top.

It's an OK outing though fairly dirty from lack of traffic. The upper crack was filled with moss and weeds and some of the face looked as if it hadn't been done in years. IMNSHO it's probably unworthy of the star that Ed gives it! Still, it was climbing, and it was a pretty day. What more can I ask for? Anyway, as Brian was climbing, the GPS was cookin', so when he got up I captured the coordinates. As soon as I got home I popped them into Terraserver and the red dot appeared directly on the top right side of Eagle Ledge.

B I N G O

I hadn't noticed before, but you can see the cliff quite well from the field by the parking area for the Moat Trail on Passaconaway Road, look left of the South Moat. It makes me wonder where Ed took his picture in the book. The trailhead is not very far at all when you drive down Passaconaway. The other cliff (the real Woodchuck, is waaaay on down the road near the old Johnson Development (the old camps on the Swift) on the left. The two areas aren't even very close together.

So, what do we do with this information now folks? Do we push the USGS for a name change, do we send out correction notices to all guidebook purchasers for the last 30+ years? Should a information-recall notice be published in Climbing and R&I magazines?

IMPORTANT CRAG NAME RECALL NOTICE

Where do we go from here? What should we call it now? My favorite is "Eagle Ledge, the crag formerly known as Woodchuck Ledge." What's yours?

Along these lines, perhaps you can help me with some other detective work. I noticed a few newish lines while I was wandering around Woodchuck/Eagle that don't seem to be in Ed's book. The first is on the front right side of the Roger's Spire buttress. Here's a picture. There are at least 3 bolts and a very unique gargoyle/spire on the right side. It looks like a wild line that goes right out the arete.

The other is up on the Zonkers Wall, just right of Circus Time on the corner. There were a couple of new bolts and a black piece of webbing stuck on the first bolt as if someone had bailed. It looked like an interesting line. Here's a picture of this one. If you have any info on these climbs please let me know. And also if you have pics of anyone on any of the climbs at the crag, please send them along. I'd love to include some people shots in the route area.

Fundraiser In Third Week:
We are now in the third week of our annual "Fundraiser Month" at NEClimbs and The White Mountain Report. For 52 weeks we put out the weekly Report and maintain the NEClimbs web site, keeping you up to date on what's going on in climbing in the White Mountains, and in the White Mountain climbing community. This is a very time-intensive task people! Making sure that YOU have the latest ice and rock conditions, continually adding new routes to the online database, and reporting the events and people in the local climbing community consumes 10+ hours a week. This is NOT an insignificant amount of time! Your contribution to the organization is what makes this newsletter and the NEClimbs web site possible. Without your support we simply wouldn't be able to come close to justifying the effort required to make it happen.

We currently have over 650 subscribers to the White Mountain Report and NEClimbs gets over 500 UNIQUE visits per day. Right now only 39 of you have made a contribution. That's a miniscule 6% of the Report subscriber base! You can do better than that. Please don't wait to make a contribution. DON'T assume that someone else will pick up the slack. YOU signed up to be included on the mailing list! YOU'RE reading it right now! Sit down right this minute and send us a check or money order for at least $20. Or make your contribution ON-LINE via PayPal by clicking here. It's easy & painless and you can use your credit card. Remember, you DON"T need to have a PayPal account to use this service. We aren't asking for a lot. A minimal $20 donation isn't a lot for all the great information provided every single week. Hey, it's 38 CENTS per day!

To make it more enticing we're offering even more. Make a contribution and be automatically entered in a raffle for some GREAT prizes. And we're adding more all the time.

A pair of brand new snow pickets donated by an anonymous reader
Robert Frost's acclaimed climbing video, "Auto Road"
"An Ice Climbers Guide to Northern New England" by Lewis & Wilcox
Tim Kemple's "New England Bouldering" guidebook
Peter Lewis' great topo map/guide to Whitehorse Ledge
Anderl Heckmair's climbing autobiography "My Life"

The drawing will be held on October 21st, 2004 and winners will be notified in the Report. Your donation must be postmarked or received by PayPal before
October 1, 2004 to be entered. It's a perfect opportunity to support NEClimbs, and a great chance to win a useful prize.

PLEASE keep the Report and NEClimbs growing and evolving. Make out a check for $20 to NEClimbs or donate via PayPal. We'll appreciate WHATEVER you can afford. Make out your check or money order to NEClimbs and send it to:

NEClimbs
92 Bow Lane
North Conway, NH 03860

A VERY SPECIAL THANKS to those who have already contributed. The Donations list is up and running now. It contains the names of all of those who have contributed as a part of the 2004/2005 fundraiser as well as the up to date corporate sponsors.

MAKE SURE YOU'RE ON THE LIST!

The Northeast Passage:
Last week I did a big ride over the Kanc to Lincoln and back. On the way back down the hill on this side we passed some obviously disabled riders on their way up. Some were on bikes with the pedal work being done with arm-cranks while some were being towed by other riders. Apparently this is a part of an organization sponsored by the University Of New Hampshire called Northeast Passage. You can read more about it here -

http://www.nepassage.org/
http://www.unh.edu/news/news_releases/2004/september/sk_20040909nep.html

Seeing these folks grind their way uphill really made me think about all that I have. I get out and ride 3-5 times a week, I climb and I do all kinds of active stuff. I've got aches and pains and sometimes I worry about various maladies I may, or may not, have. I've got ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS compared to these folks. and yet here they are, doing what basically amounts to the same century (100 mile) ride here in the White Mountains that any rider, myself included, would be darn happy to manage. This is impressive both physically and psychologically and these folks are deserving of all the praise in the world. I found myself thumbs-upping and cheering as I rode past them. Hey, I was proud of my little 79 mile jaunt, but these folks should be damn proud of getting through their lives.

Seacoast Century:
I've been working my way along toward completing a century bike ride this season. This weekend the Granite State Wheelmen are putting on their annual Seacoast Century ride starting in Hampton Beach and going through 3 states. My partner in biking Ian Cruickshank and I will be there riding on Sunday along with several other climbers we know including Jim Gagne. If you are there keep an eye out for us. We're the ones riding slow! Say hi if you see us out there.

Adopt-a-Crag Events THIS WEEKEND:
Two great events are taking place, both this weekend. If you live near these areas it would be a great thing to get out there and lend a hand. And tell 'em NEClimbs sent 'cha!

Middlesex Fells Reservation - Cleanup
THIS Sunday morning, 9am-12noon, September 26th

Meet at 1 Woodland Road Stoneham (corner of Woodland Rd and Pond St).
Contact Richard Doucette at 617-875-6497 or 781-620-1223 if you plan to
participate.

Lower West Bolton -
THIS Saturday, September 25th. Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 25th from 11am to 3pm for a day of stewardship and fun at Lower West Bolton. Trail stabilization will continue on the new access trail built last summer and along the cliff base. All participants will receive a raffle ticket for schweet schwag!

Schedule: 11am—meet at Lower West Bolton. 3pm—Ben & Jerry's ice cream and raffle. You're also welcome to join us at 9:30 for breakfast at Bridge Street Cafe in Richmond (buy your own).

New on NEClimbs:
Well folks there are even MORE routes on the site this week. The total now is OVER 300 rock routes from 12 areas. Many of them are unavailable in ANY guidebook! This week I added routes and pictures for Square Ledge up in Pinkham, Mt. Willard in Crawford Notch and a bunch of new ones at Eagle Cliff, the crag formerly known as Woodchuck Ledge. If you haven't climbed in any of these locations, you really should. With fall here already, it's the perfect time to explore some of these superb locations. Square Ledge has a bunch of wonderful moderates, Willard some great climbing in the 5.10 range and Woodchuck has something for every taste.

I'm getting ready to make a change in the way I send out the Report mailings. With over 650 subscribers, it's just too difficult to do it locally so I'm getting a newsletter management system that runs totally on the web. I've done a lot of testing of the systems and the only thing that is possibly going to be a problem is that most of them don't hard-wrap lines at a set number of characters. A few of you have older email readers that apparently don't handle this well and the lines run off to the right. Starting next week I am going to move to the new system so you may want to consider updating your software. I simply need to move in this direction to enable me to get the job done more efficiently.

Remember - climb hard, ride the steep stuff, stay safe and above all BE NICE,