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November 9, 2023
Hi Folks,
You know it's the more or less "official" start of winter when Cathedral Ledge Road, Hurricane Mt, Bear Notch and the like get closed. And that has happened today. I noticed that Sawyer River Road isn't closed yet, and since it's not steep and we haven't gotten much snow yet it might be a while. I'm not sure about Passaconaway Road or Evans Notch, but I will bet the latter has most likely been gated.
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/CathedralLedgeRoad.jpg
Interestingly it was clear last night at 10pm when I got back from sitting in at a friend's gig, but had turned funky when I got up at 6am. It's been hovering around freezing and going back and forth between light snow and freezing rain all morning. The snow we got, barely a trace, will likely be gone soon. The ground is still warm of course, and it will be sunny probably starting tomorrow.
Todd Swain sent me the following very interesting stats. I would have thought that National Park visitor numbers overall were still going up. Apparently that is not exactly the case. The only increase he sent was for New River Gorge! That's interesting... Perhaps the massive increase we saw over Covid has peaked. One can only hope.
Current Joshua Tree National Park visitation
Overall visitation down 4% (second year in a row down from 2021 highpoint)
Camping down 12%
Visitor center visits down 10%
Yosemite YTD visits down 4.9%
Rocky Mt YTD visitation down 3%
Acadia down 3.2% visitation, camping down 10%
New River Gorge visits up 6%, overnight stays up 5%.
At this stage of the game, to get any climbable ice you'll need to visit the upper elevations, and even that is fairly minimal. Matty Bowman found climbable ice on Left Of Left in Tucks earlier in the week. Unfortunately the Open Book and other early season weren't in anything like climbable shape conditions. He also said that there was pretty minimal snow cover and the trail was all rock!
Here's a few pix from this morning in Crawford Notch. Obviously it was pretty foggy and there was nothing climbable. Interestingly there were no cars in the Mt Clinton parking lot and Mt Clinton Road was still ungated!
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/cinema.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/dracula.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/dropline.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/elephantHead.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/fang.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/flumeCascade.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/Frankenstein_Right.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/FrankensteinAmphitheater.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/greatMadness.jpg
http://www.neclimbs.com/wmr_pix/20231109/standardRoute.jpg
I'll be at the Tuckerman Brewing Company (4-7pm) in Conway Village off Hobbs Street on Friday with the Jim McLaughlin Group and then at Ledge Brewing (6-9) on Saturday with my band. Both are bands with great players that jam a lot and that folks seem to really dig. Both venues have great beer and food. The pizza at Tuckerman is excellent, as are the tacos at Ledge. Please come out and join us...
Here we go again...just like those ubiquitous NPR fundraisers. [HA] Only I don't have all those volunteers on the phones ready to take your pledge. [wry grin] And you don't get the exclusive monogramed Tote Bag if you donate some pre-defined amount. [wry grin]
As you know, all year I put out our weekly White Mountain Reports on Facebook, Instagram and the NEClimbs web site. Much like those NPR fundraisers, I ask you for your support. Keeping you up to date with happenings in the Whites, providing the latest ice and rock conditions, reporting on events and people in the local climbing community and more consumes around 10 hours a week. That's not insignificant for anyone. And hey, I'm just like every other overworked semi-retired dude you know.
All that said, the $20 donation isn't a heck-of-a-lot, is it? Heck, that's just a couple of latte's at the Frontside! Don't wait to make YOUR contribution. and don't assume that others will pick up the slack. YOU are the one who signed up to be included on the mailing list! YOU read it every week, and I'm the one providing the service!
Please contribute to NEClimbs and The White Mountain Report. Send your check or money order for $20 now, OR make your contribution ON LINE via PayPal. It's easy & painless and you can use any credit card. Simply click the link below to make your donation...
http://www.neclimbs.com/index.php?PageName=donation_fundraiser
Checking out the current weather, it's time to get the fat tire bike out and put the studded tires back on. And it's definitely time to be concerned about the icy patches here & there. Just gotta pay more attention...
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
| And what joy, think ye, did they feel after the exceeding long and troublous ascent? - after scrambling, slipping, pulling, pushing, lifting, gasping, looking, hoping, despairing, climbing, holding on, falling off, trying, puffing, loosing, gathering, talking, stepping, grumbling, anathemising, scraping, hacking, bumping, jogging, overturning, hunting, straddling, - for know you that by these methods alone are the most divine mysteries of the Quest reached. |
| Norman Collie, 1894, from the Scottish Mountainering Journal |
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