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!