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Even tho for a variety of reasons I'm not climbing as much as I have, I am thoroughly enjoying this summer in other ways. The weather has been excellent, bike riding has been fantastic, the music is more and better than I ever would have expected and frankly the quality of life is full to the brim.
Last night's gig at Rosa Flamingo's in Bethlehem was most excellent. It's a great piano/bass/drum trio that plays tunes everyone knows, in ways that nobody knows. Not even us. We played outside on the patio and the weather was perfection. Altho I was worried about it as I came through Crawford Notch and it rained and the temperature dropped to 64!!! [yikes] But that all changed when the skies cleared just as I got to Twin Mountain. [yea] There were lots of old friends there and I met a bunch of other great folks, climbers and otherwise.
But it was the drive home at around 9:30 that was particularly special. When I got down into the Notch at around Willies Slide I pulled over, shut off the car, got out and stood smack-dab in the middle of the road. The half moon was bright, stars amazing, jagged shadows of the surrounding ridgelines beautiful with just the slightest whisper of a warm summer breeze. The silence was all-enveloping. Not a single car came by the entire time I stood there - a good 10 minutes! It's moments like this that make me savor my life up here. Heck, savor my life in general... I came across the following quote recently:
"Are you running towards life, or away from death?"
For me the former is truly the case. Even as I approach the 4th quarter, I do my best to savor every morning, every afternoon and night. We're only given one shot at every passing second, so don't let them just blow by unappreciated.
One note about driving at night, which I do a lot coming back from various gigs. There is a LOT of wildlife out there these days. While I didn't see any deer, moose or bears last night, I sure have seen all 3 other evenings. On my way home around 1am from Weirs last week I had a deer run in front of me and spotted another on the side of the road! A few weeks ago fellow musician Jim Tyrell hit a moose on his way home and it totaled his car! He was fortunate to be basically uninjured. And 2 nights later coming back from another gig in his insurance supplied rental, he almost hit a deer! Just sayin'...
GOTCHA AGAIN - NH Fish & Game - Climbers Assisted off of Cannon Cliff:
At approximately 10:30 P.M. on Monday, July 4, 2022, Fish and Game was notified of two men who became stranded near the top of the Moby Grape climbing route on Cannon Cliffs.
Gilman Coryell, 46, of Mount Vernon, ME and David Roberts, 67, of Portland, ME had made plans to ascend the multiple-pitch route on Cannon Cliff during the day when they found themselves off the primary route just off a location known as “the Cave”. Coryell and Roberts were tired, unsure of the route and climbing in darkness when they placed a call to 911 requesting help around 10:30 P.M. After talking with a Conservation Officer and assessing their gear and weather, it was determined the pair would spend the night up on the cliffs to await a rescue the following morning.
NH Conservation Officers and members of Mountain Rescue Service responded on the morning of July 5th and were transported to the top of the cliffs via the Cannon Tram. The team was able to quickly bushwhack the ridge to a location just above the climbers where they could properly set an anchor point. Once the anchor was set an MRS member climbed down to reach Coryell and Roberts and provided safety ropes for the pair. The rescuer, Coryell and Roberts climbed the remaining cliff face to the anchor point to rejoin the group. The group hiked down the descent trail safely arriving back at the parking lot at approximately 12:00 pm.
NEW ROCK GUIDEBOOK:
I knew a new edition of Jerry's NORTH CONWAY ROCK CLIMBS guidebook was in the works, but for some reason I missed that it was actually available. Well it's on the shelves now. I picked up a copy the other day at IME and word has it that it's selling very well. I'm not ready to do a full review yet, but on first glance I gotta say that it looks quite amazing. Over 450 pages, many many new areas, I don't know how many new routes but there has to be a thousand, much thicker cover and a lot more. If you have the previous edition, is this a must-have? Hard for me to say definitively yet, but I think if you're looking for some places to climb other than same-old-same-old, I'd probably have to say yes. My only initial negative is that almost all the pictures are of folks climbing sans-helmet! Hard to grok in this day and age...
For the full current conditions report, CLICK
HERE
PEREGRINE CLIFF CLOSINGS:
I hadn't heard anything yet from Chris Martin about the list of closings for Peregrines this year, so I gave him a call. I participated in about 10 years of banding on the Painted Walls and Cathedral Ledge. The birds are incredible and well worth the relatively minimal time and inconvenience of protecting them. Here's a list of the primary areas that are currently restricted.
Rumney: Main Cliff
Cathedral Ledge: Repentance & Remission
Franconia Notch: The Eaglet Spire
Holt's Ledge: all is closed
Band M: The Steps area
Woodchuck: right side of cliff
Russell Craig: Main cliff
Frankenstein: none
Painted Walls: none
Whitehorse Ledge: none
INSTANT BUG REPORT: 3
The blackfly & caterpillar populations have really dropped off, but depending on the time of day and location the mosquitoes could carry you away! Having the DEET in the pack is pretty darn useful. Oh yeah, tho caterpillars are fewer, the moths have taken their place! [sigh]
SOME LOCAL/NATIONAL PANDEMIC THOUGHTS:
I went to music school with Bruce Hornsby and played in a GB band with him in Miami in the mid-70's. We keep in touch and I see him whenever he's playing in the area. A week or so ago I heard that he had to cancel the last several dates on his current tour schedule due to several positive Covid tests in his tour group. This is in spite of them being extremely careful. Another friend is on tour with Roger Waters and he has mentioned just how cautious they all are right now. In both cases cancellations can cost big $$ for everyone. In just my little area alone a number of folks, not just me, have gotten it recently and had to cancel gigs. Quite apart from simply being sick, it costs business!
FWIW after my round of Covid I am fine, but still not 100% I spoke to a nurse about it the other day and she said that was pretty normal. It often takes several months to get fully back to where you were pre-illness. [sigh]
New Hampshire:
4 New death(s) reported
2,016 Active cases
14 Current hospitalizations being treated for COVID
2,594 Total deaths due to COVID-19
United States:
Confirmed: 88,267,056
Deaths: 1,019,125 (up 5,000)
I find JHU's Daily COVID-19 Data in Motion report to be very informative. It shares critical data on COVID-19 from the last 24 hours in a short 1 minute animated video format.
OUR ONLY WAY OUT IS IF YOU GET VACCINATED, WHERE RECOMMENDED PLEASE STILL WEAR A MASK, WASH YOUR HANDS!
REMEMBER - WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
VALLEY CYCLING:
I keep riding more than climbing mainly 'cause I can get out by myself for an hour, unlike climbing that always seems to take at least half day. There are so many great trails right out of my house as well. And if I want more, the NOCO downhill stuff off Hurricane Mt Road is quite amazing. Right now there is something for everyone here in the Valley. Much like the climbing!
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.
