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August 24, 2023
Hi Folks,
impossible.
If you watch the NH news, you've been seeing reports of people drowning here in NH. I think there have been 5 lake/river ones so far in August alone! The two most tragic have been parents drowning when attempting to save their spouses or children who have fallen in the water! I have a hard time even imaging... One was over in Albany on the Swift River. That water has been really moving all summer long, and even the Saco is quite high for this time of year.
https://indepthnh.org/2023/08/20/6th-apparent-nh-drowning-in-august-this-time-a-dad-trying-to-save-his-family/
If you have been in the Valley this summer you have surely noticed how much building is going on. The town that I first visited over 35 years ago is rapidly becoming unrecognizable. More and more hotels, restaurants and other types of businesses are being built on the Strip and frankly it's getting pretty nuts. Most recently there was a Zoning Board meeting that revolved around a proposed casino in the same strip-mall where the NH liquor Store is located. That's right, a CASINO! It's hard to understand how this even got as far along as it has, but if it is allowed things are surely going to change even more for the worse. The meeting seemed to move along the old-boy-network style. That is, it's pretty clear that there's something going on behind the scenes that we in the public aren't privy too. After living here for 26 years, why am I not surprised? What's particularly disturbing is that there aren't enough workers here to fill all the positions that are available, so no one can see where 4 new hotels and a Market Basket will get enough employees to open. IMNSHO it's not very promising folks. Stay tuned...
I also have several local friends who have gotten COVID lately! Some are folks who have both had it before and others who never had it. And all but one are fully VAXXED. The vaccinated ones fortunately have very mild symptoms. Needless to say this makes me a bit nervous, considering just how much I am out in the public these days. No, I'm not prepared to go back to masking. But I do make a point of washing and sanitizing my hands, as well as not hugging or shaking hands as much as I used to. Hey, at 75 I want to stack the deck in my favor as much as possible. It's kind of like putting in a lot of gear. Who wants to get hurt, right?
I'll be at Ledge Brewing on this Saturday 6-9 with my buddy Jim McLaughlin's band. It's a fun jam-band that people seem to really dig. As I tell folks, "We play all the tunes you know, but you won't recognize 'em..." LOL Come out and hang with us. The beer is great and they are supposed to be doing tacos now. This one is Rain Or Shine!
I will also be doing my last summer Sunday jazz gigs at Weirs Beach this weekend. This is right out on the boardwalk overlooking the big lake. This is a straight ahead jazz group, quartet or sometimes quintet. The sax player is great and the piano player and drummer are guys from my own band. It's a lot of fun in a great location.
This 3-day grassroots climbing festival brings climbers from all over New England to Rumney, one of the oldest premiere sport climbing destinations in the United States. Challenge yourself on the schist and get after some of the most iconic routes in New England.
https://americanalpineclub.org/rumney-cc\
Still got them dag-nambed mosquitoes out there.
This week we've had some great riding pretty much everywhere. Sure there are some muddy spots here & there, but overall it's great fun in the woods my friends. And the downhill is awfully good too! After Labor Day weekend Cranmore will be switching to weekends only through Columbus Day, which will be a bit of a drag. I've really been enjoying taking runs there every few days and using it as a way to easily get across to the rides in the Hurricane Zone.
Remember - climb hard, ride the twisty stuff, wear a helmet, stay safe - and above all BE NICE.
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:
http://www.neclimbs.com/mobile
Check it out and if you have issues on your specific phone, please feel free to let me know.
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:
http://www.facebook.com/NEClimbs/
Remember - climb hard, ride the steep stuff, stay safe and above all BE NICE,
Al Hospers
The White Mountain Report
North Conway, New Hampshire
| The hype pretended that M7, or 8, or 12 for that matter, had never before been climbed un thil the current practitioners rap bolted some overhanging choss heap, rehersed it, climbed it, did photo shoots on it, and treated it as commerce. |
| Mark Twight |
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