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May 8, 2025
Hi Folks,
While not exactly "frightful", the weather has by no means been "delightful". I don't know what the totals are exactly, but we most certainly have had inches of rain over the past 7+ days. And of course that's made doing outdoor things at the very least awkward. [wry grin]
I was away in Philly from Friday-Monday visiting family. I drove down as usual, and IMNSHO that's a pretty unpleasant drive. I've done it many times, as well as the one all the way to DC, so I know it well. It's almost 9 hours to Philly, with some rest stops, and 11 1/2 on to DC. I've done lots of road trips in my 77 years, but honestly I don't find them very entertaining any more. At least not when I'm driving alone! Fortunately I managed to avoid the rain in both directions. [whew]
I was hoping that by the time I got home the weather would start being nice so I could get out for some riding and climbing. But unfortunately we are still in a wet period. You can tell that once the sun comes out and we warm up the grass and leaves will blast into full green-mode. Philly was well past that and generally temps were in the 70+ range, actually mid 80's on Friday when I got there. Of course on the plus side, the rain is keeping the pollen count in check.
The weather predictions going forward from Sunday look pretty nice, weather wise. I would guess that Monday-Wednesday would be great for climbing and hopefully the blackflys won't be happening quite yet. They ARE out there, just annoying and not yet biting. That will come tho, along with mosquitoes and ticks... My DEET is back in the pouch of my pack. I would advise the same.
Friends of the Ledges will be hosting a cliff cleanup at The Jockey Cap Cliff on Saturday, May 17. We will meet from 3-6 pm. at the new “Jockey Cap Trailhead”, now located 2/10 mile east of the Molly Ockett Middle School in Fryeburg, Maine. The trailhead is on the left when heading east on route 302, past the Jockey Cap Store. Trash bags, bug spray and refreshments provided. Best to bring some work gloves as we'll be doing some light trail work in addition to removing trash and graffiti.
So after 2 weeks off, I have 3 gigs this weekend. AMAZING, huh? On Friday May 9 I'll be playing trio jazz at the Majestic Cafe in Conway Village 7-9 with my dear friends and long-time musical partners Mike Sakash on sax and Craig Bryan on drums. Then on Saturday May 10 I'll be at Ledge Brewing 7-9 with guitarist Jarrod Taylor and drummer Tim Gilmore. Finally on Sunday May 11th my band 5-piece band will be at Tuckerman Brewing 4-7 featuring Mike Sakash, Tom Robinson, Jarrod Taylor and Tim Gilmore. I'm really looking forward to all 3 of these gigs and each will be fun different. If the weather permits, the Ledge and Tuckerman ones will be outside. Stay tuned...
>
If you're interested you can always see my schedule here:
http://www.alhospers.com/?PageName=2
I got in some fun riding on my road bike last Saturday in Philly. The multi-use path there from center city out past manhunt is pretty darn amazing. And on top of that, the park is closed to vehicles on the weekend so that's fun too. Here in our hood, there's been a lot of work going on to clean up the local MTB trails and make some new additions. Most of the downhill trails in the Hurricane Zone have been prepped and are good to go. And the trails on the east side are good as well. A new connector from just below the Redstone quarry over to the bottom of Swamp is a nice addition, as is a new connector between upper Rattlesnake and Swamp. Check them out. There is also logging going on over on state land around High Street, so be aware of that. As I understand it, the Marshall trails are untouched. Downhill at Cranmore will open on Memorial Day and I'm looking forward to that again.
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
| In climbing, the difference between bold and bad judgement is if you make it down alive, you were bold. |
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