It was February vacation week in Massachusetts this week which meant everyone from our home state was looking to travel North to climb! We had programs running everyday this week and the weather was classic New England weather. We had snow storms that dropped over a foot of the white fluffy stuff, we had rain and sleet, and we had 40 degree bluebird days.
We had so many successful days out in the mountains, it’s hard to choose one to write about here!
The beginning of the week started with pretty normal winter conditions, but as we reached Midweek, we got hammered two days in a row with snowstorms. We still got after it with a bunch of ice climbing courses despite the weather. After all of the snow, we did our community service and broke trail all the way to the top of Mt. Willard. As the week progressed, the forecast was for rain and sleet on Friday. 40 degrees and raining is about the worst conditions as there is no way to stay dry. We went ice climbing anyways! Luckily the worst of the precipitation waited for us to finish our climbing before unleashing the heavy stuff. Mother Nature must have recognized that we paid our dues by climbing in heavy snow and cold drizzle, and she rewarded us with two picture perfect days to end the week. On Saturday we had a group head up Washington in temps above freezing at the bunkhouse. They reached a point about 30 minutes below the summit to be turned around by hurricane force winds. The following day our Washington crew made the summit with all 7 climbers in another amazing weather day. On that same day myself and Mark led four climbers on Standard Route at Frankenstein cliff. It was a day for the record books! 40 degrees, sunny, plastic ice, and great company!
We would like to thank each and every climber who came up to visit us at NEM and who spent their vacation climbing in New Hampshire! We had such a great time regardless of the weather and we are psyched to get back at it on Thursday!

Another busy weekend under wraps! A whole new crew of climbers visited us this past weekend and although chilly, it was another great weekend that spilled into the weekdays. While I was relaxing on my weekend off for the winter, Brett was working his butt off!
On Friday we ran an Ice Course, Skills Course, and a successful Summit of Madison. Saturday brought a Mt. Washington Climb with all 6 climbers making it to the summit, an intro to ice course, and a one day ice climbing course. On Sunday we kept it going with a bunch of different Ice programs!
I got to see some action come Tuesday when I took Tyler, a repeat client, on an alpine gully climb in Crawford Notch. After running through some options we decided on Shoestring Gully on Mt. Webster. Shoestring is an excellent first alpine climb requiring travel on steep snow, and moderate ice. It took us about an hour or so to get up the snow gully to the start of the ice. We roped up and climbed the first little ice bulge followed by some snow. We set up our first anchor and climbed our first real ice section. The route was in great shape although a bit brittle and the bitter cold kept us moving fast. After 2 more pitches of steep snow and ice, we had a decision to make. Climb some moderate snow for two rope-lengths to the top, or go for the steeper WI3 ice finish. Tyler was pretty dialed in and willing to follow anything I led. I took a good look at the ice in the WI3 finish and it looked thin. I looked some more. It seemed to me that as long as I could get passed the beginning chimney, I could get a screw or two in the slightly thicker ice above. We decided to go for it. I hadn’t put in any protection up to that point and the beginning of the WI3 finish really had very little ice in it, so I placed a nut into some very suspect rock. I climbed some snow covered rock to get onto the thin ice. The first 10 ft or so was super thin. Once I got above the start though I started looking to place a screw. Everywhere I looked seemed to be much thinner than it seemed from below. I kept climbing. 15 ft from the top I placed my first screw and felt better about the decision to finish this way. I got a second screw in just below the tight exit chimney and then topped out. Tyler followed without a hitch and we enjoyed the well deserved views of Crawford Notch and sipped some hot chocolate and coffee from my thermos.
We moved well throughout the day and we were back to the bunkhouse around 4PM. The other group of three guided by Jamie also climbed Shoestring with us although they were a larger group and graciously let us take the lead. They also had a successful day and returned by 5PM.

We are looking forward to our busiest weekend to date! We still have space on our Intro to ice course on Saturday! Come and climb with us!

-Corey

Howdy Guys and Gals!
It’s been a while since our last post and I apologize for that! I hope everyone has been having an awesome winter so far! I know we have had a great January. February and March promise to be pretty epic as well. This past weekend was IceFest in the Mt. Washington Valley and that meant there were a ton of climbers around! We had perfect conditions for it too! The ice has really been in great shape this season (barring a couple unseasonably warm weeks mixed in).
The first weekend of February brought Skills Courses, Ice Climbing, and very successful Mt. Washington Climbs. On Friday our group got a late start due to the airlines cancelling some flights from Chicago, but we were able to salvage the day and get some great practice in! On Saturday we had a big group for Intro to Ice Climbing, as well as a full boat on Mt. Washington! With it being IceFest and all, we tried to get out there early and claim our spot on the ice, which we were able to do. We went over to Frankenstein cliff and climbed on Walk in the Forest (WI3). On Washington, all 8 got to the summit in beautiful conditions. If that wasn’t enough we had a really fun group for a one day skills course, prepping for their Mt. Washington Attempt the next day. Everyone was stoked when they got back to the bunkhouse. The bunkhouse was absolutely packed to the rafters with climbers sharing their stories from their climbs! We find great joy in the community we are creating and we love spending time with old friends and new!
On Sunday we had another smaller Intro to Ice Climbing group as well as a One Day Ice Climb scheduled. Both had great days on the ice with one climbing at Frankenstein and one on Mt. Willard. Our group of 6 (including two guides) made the summit of Mt. Washington as well on Sunday giving us a 100% summit rate for the weekend. The conditions were warm and breezy (relatively). We made really good time and the group was a blast to spend a day with!
This weekend is another busy one.. just how we like it. We have so many great trips planned this winter such as a couple presidential traverses, winter camping courses, and a bunch of Mt. Washington attempts and Ice Climbing courses. We’re so excited to share our love for the outdoors with everyone who is scheduled to climb this winter. Let’s go have a safe and fun winter!!!