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Not a whole heckuva lot going on this week peeps. Trying to avoid listening to the crazy political crap going on, watching the Celtics, no real climbing other than throwing down a quick TR here & there, some bike riding in the woods and on the road up in Randolph, being depressed by the near-constant off and on rain, spending extra time at the gym, trying to get the yard and garden in shape, putting down grass seed, buying plants that I can't put in the ground yet 'cause it's been too chilly, watching it snow up on Mt Washington and having people call to see if the Dike came back in.
FRIENDS OF THE LEDGES:
Spring Cleaning at the Ledges - It's time for our annual spring clean-up at Cathedral and Whitehorse ledges. We will gather at the kiosk below Cathedral Ledge at 1:00 pm on Saturday, May 20 to divvy up tools and assignments. The goal is to clear the climber trails of leaf litter and other debris from the winter and to pick up any trash that may have melted out of the snow. We will also have an opportunity to do a walk-through of some potential future trail projects with Mike Morin, the Northeast Regional Director of the Access Fund.
After the clean-up we'll have BYO barbecue at the look-out below Cathedral (or gather at Flatbread if the weather or bugs are bad). Please spread the word, bring your friends, and we'll see you there!
Please bring your own work gloves.
Ice Conditions Report:
Selected Ice Conditions effective March 21, 2024
I can't actually say that there is nothing out there that can't be climbed. That would be foolish. But for the average, or a little above average climber, that's probably correct. That said, I did hear that there is climbable ice on Parasol in Dixville Notch. Not sure how that will be after we get a foot of heavy wet snow on Saturday. Regardless, here's a few pix I took today just to document things.
Huntington Ravine
AVALANCHE
Repentance
OUT
Standard Route
OUT
Dracula
OUT
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
VALLEY CYCLING:
I've ridden most of the mountain bike trails in the Valley now, East and West Side and everything is in pretty good shape for this time of year. I had to take my wife's Prius up to Berlin to have the bi-annual maintenance done on Tuesday. The weather looked OK so I took my road bike along so I wouldn't have to sit in the waiting room for 3 hours. As always the plan was to ride up Gorham Hill Road on Rt 2, at the top turn right and ride up Randolph Hill Road, come down, continue to Dolly Copp Road (Pinkham B) and come back down Pinkham Notch back to Gorham. This time I took at right at the sign for Moose Brook State Park just to see where that road went. Turns out it goes up a couple of miles and dead-ends at a preserve. That was pretty neat. I rode back down, turned right and slogged up Gorham Hill and then headed up Randolph Hill. The sky darkened a bit and I could see that it was snowing over in King's Ravine! I rode all the way to the top of Randolph Hill and found that there was now a large parking area with a kiosk and Town Interpretive Trail. It's also the junction of the Peek Path, Mt Crescent Trail, Cook Path and the Head Of Ice Gulch trail. Very cool...
I started cooling off so I headed back down, with a stop at this field for a quick snack and shot of King Ravine. Interestingly enough, it now decided to spit snow and did this all the way back to Gorham Hill! [sigh] Of course it stopped and a bit of sun broke through so I was suckered into heading down towards Dolly Copp. I turned left on to DC and of course now it decided to snow again. Figuring that discretion was the best part of valor, I decided I'd call it a day and headed up the back side of Gorham Hill. While I hadn't seen a single truck coming up the hill, there much have been 10 logging and tanker trucks that passed me going up this side and coming down the other!!!! Go figure...
It really wasn't a bad ride - 21 miles and 1,700' of climbing and the car was ready when I got back.
INSTANT BUG REPORT:
Well the bugs ARE here in the Valley now. Not biting as best I can tell, but getting annoying. I was out working in the yard yesterday and saw them, and was top-roping this morning and they were definitely being their pest-like selves. I gotta figure that the blood-lust is going to kick in darn soon, so make sure you have the DEET in your back and ready to go! I know I said I hadn't seen any ticks yet but I had one on me day before yesterday. I had been out working in the yard and about an hour after I came inside I felt something on my leg inside my pants. I checked and yup, there was one of the suckers. Take precautions and be sure to check yourself thoroughly whenever you come in from outside.
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.
