For my first trip up the rock pile this season I got to climb with Kel, Carl, and Jerome. These life-long friends were a fun group to hike with. With moderate winds and “normal” visibility we made it to the top and back to the car with a bit of daylight left, and some sore muscles.
Thank you guys (and gal) for a great day on the hill! Your jokes were funny, teamwork top-notch, and positive energy contagious. Hope to see you all back for some rock climbing next summer!
For my 1st official guiding day of the season I had the privilege of taking Ben, Dan, and Tanner on their 1st multi-pitch winter climbing experience. These three guys were taking our very popular 3-Day Accelerated Mountaineering Program, and this was Day 2 of their trip.
We drove up Route 302 to Crawford Notch, and after a warm-up hike reached the base of Willey’s Slide, a 700 foot high ice climb that is great for learning some multi-pitch techniques, and was named after the tragic event in 1826 that claimed the Willey Family (hence the phrase “A Case of the Willey’s.”
Great first day of the season for me, and I heard you guys had a good time on Mt. Washington the following day! Thanks for joining us for some winter adventure and hope to see you all back again. I know I’ll see you again Tanner!
Well it’s been awhile since I have posted due to it being the “off season” for guide work. Last week I attended an AIARE Avalanche Instructor’s Refresher Course. This will be my 3rd season teaching Level 1 AIARE courses and I must say I am excited about it! I am quickly becoming more and more intrigued by this “snow science” and am happy to be able to pass on what knowledge I can through the excellent course curriculum from AIARE. If you haven’t taken an avalanche course yet, or it’s been awhile, this may be the season to do it!
You can view all our scheduled courses here;
http://emsclimb.com/aiare_1.html
The 1st course is already sold out, and the rest are sure to follow!
Eric and Lori got up at 2AM to make the drive from New York City all the way to the White Mountains for their 1st “trad” climbing experience. Both were pretty strong boulderers and had some indoor experience. We cruised up Thin Air in the morning and then spent some time at the North End of Cathedral.
It was a good day of climbing with you both! Hope you had fun at Rumney the following day!
Kellen and his father Ron made the short trip from Gorham, ME to try rock climbing today. They could not have picked a better day to be out in the White Mountains! After endless weeks of rain we have been blessed with some great sunshine and dry weather! Since it was supposed to a be a warm day we headed for Square Ledge in Pinkham Notch. Other than a few hikers and one intriguing musician we had the cliff to ourselves! No bugs, no crowds, no humidity… couldn’t get much better than that! We climbed the West Face, The Chimney, and finished on The Brain. It seemed everyone had a good time and I certainly hope to see Ron and Kellen again… their enthusiasm for a new adventure is contagious!
Enjoy the slideshow, and if you’ve followed my blog I apologize for the repeat use of this Cold Play song… but it seems to fit these slideshows pretty well. I am open to some instrumental suggestions!
Don’t forget to select “HD” and full screen for better viewing! HD may not be available for 15 minutes.
Fun time climbing with you guys, and perfect weather to boot! Thanks for coming up from Jersey for some climbing. Perhaps we’ll see you this winter for some ice climbing on Laura’s birthday!
I had the excellent fortune of guiding 17 Boy Scouts from Connecticut up Mt. Washington with an overnight stay at the AMC Lakes of The Clouds hut. The Scouts and Scout Leaders where great fun to hike with and I hope we see them next year for another trip! Enjoy the video, be sure to select HD for best quality…
Ray came up from vacationing in Southern New Hampshire to try rock climbing outside after getting a taste of it on an indoor wall. While the temps went over 90 we found a nice shady top-rope on the Thin Air face of Cathedral Ledge.
Ray, thanks for coming up and climbing with me today. It was a pleasure despite the hottest day of the summer! Hope to see you and Dad up here again for some more climbing!
This is the 5th year the Koury’s have come up to climb with us and it is always such a great time! Joe and Holli have 3 great boys who have improved their climbing skills dramatically over the years climbing with us. We started our 1st day with some warm up rappelling and top-roping at Jockey Cap.
Later that afternoon we started hearing the tell-tale “boomers” of a gathering thunderstorm in the distance. We pulled our ropes and made it back to the car minutes before the 1st rain drops. During the short drive back to the school we got some very heavy rain, winds, and even a little hail! Good adventure to be sure!
Two days later we met up again, this time for a longer “multi-pitch” day of climbing on Cathedral Ledge.
Between trout fishing in the northern woods to rock climbing in the White Mountains, it sounds like you guys had a great family vacation this summer! It is great climbing with you all and joining you for breakfast at The Nereledge Inn. Thank you for continuing to climb with Conrad and I and we both hope to see you this winter to try your hand at ice climbing! Be well Koury’s!
Today I met Ilona, originally a climber in Czech Republic 20 years ago she decided to come up from her current Boston residence and get back onto the rock. Since she had a long distance bike ride planned for the afternoon we just did a half day, top-roping on the Thin Air Face and at the North End of Cathedral.
Thanks for coming up for the morning Ilona. Perhaps we’ll see you again with your daughter next time! I hear she is quite the gym climber!
