Well this won’t be my normal play by play blog post although it may have some of that. This one is about why we (the guides at NEM) do what we do. It’s no myth that we all seek happiness in our lives. Some find it in caring for others, some find it tinkering with electronics, or solving problems, or volunteering etc. One way I find it is by sharing the outdoor experience with people who really appreciate it. Getting out in the mountains with folks who really take in the whole experience, ask questions, and fully appreciate every minute of it. Every day we get to watch our climbers come to us with little knowledge of the sport they are about to try and with some tips and some instruction, they progress in leaps and bounds. They get to accomplish something they never thought they could do, or maybe that they were nervous to even try. That is why I love guiding! It doesn’t make any difference if I’m on Mt. Washington 30 times/winter or if I climb the same ice route 15 times, our climbers make the trip completely unique to the one before and after. Every experience for me is new and I get to learn a lot from the climbers as well. We also get to meet a TON of awesome people who we can now call friends.
Every day we have multiple groups heading out to do their respective sports (ice climbing, Mt Washington etc). This past Sunday was no different, we had a group of 6 heading up Lions Head with Mike and Mark, Anthony took a couple ice climbing and I also took a pair of climbers to Mt. Willard for their first multi-pitch ice route. The day turned out to be a bit chilly but the winds were manageable and the weather improved by the hour. When we got back to the bunkhouse, the Mt. Washington folks had just returned as well from their successful climb in full on conditions. The general mood in the bunkhouse was of high energy, and good spirits as everyone laughed, joked, and cheered to a successful day in the mountains. 11 of us just hung out and swapped stories from the day. High winds on Washington, 20 minutes spent at a belay station laughing about nothing, -40 degree wind chills, and the horror stories of having to answer the call of nature with a harness on! There is nothing better than hanging out in the bunkhouse after a great day in the mountains and relishing in the environment that only different personalities coming together and the mountains can create! Whether you came from California, Massachusetts, Arizona, or New York City, everyone had a story to tell and there was always an ear open to listen.
We encourage you to come climb with us and take part in the NEM experience, and to get out there and try something new!

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