We’ll call him John because, well, that’s his name. John is a Class 1 or All-Season Trip Leader for the Appalachian Mountain Club’s (AMC) distinguished New Hampshire Chapter. It’s a hard-earned and respected position, to be sure. John is also a “Gridder” — meaning he is hiking all of the 4000-footers of NH in every month of the year (48×12=576) — so, at being nearly 500 […]
No mistake was made in the ordering of this post’s title. They came, they conquered, then they saw. It’s not the prescribed order we’re all used to, but we’re talking about an April ascent of Mt Washington. Home to the world’s worst weather. Top dog of the region’s mountains, even at a squat 6288′ (1917m), but it does whatever the heck it wants. This is the […]
What a difference a day makes on the notorious 6288′ Mt Washington. Why just the other day one of our teams was stopped short of their goal due to high winds, wind loaded snow, and higher than acceptable avalanche conditions. Turn the clocks ahead 24 hours, though, and the same ravine, now sun kissed, is significantly less dangerous, with acceptable ground conditions for backcountry alpine touring, […]
While one of our mountaineering skills classes was happening in the sheltered valley, up on the windy mountain Redline Guide Ryan Mcguire was delivery the goods to two gentlemen from Connecticut looking for a backcountry ski adventure. Specifically they wanted to ski Tuckerman Ravine. That didn’t happen. They went to the ravine, as far as they could safely go, but excessive avalanche dangers precluded venturing further […]
The elephant remembers well the last wedding atop his head. Remembering is what elephants do, after all. The last wedding brought Arctic breezes, recalls the elephant, but he also remembers the warm spirits, the laughs, and the love. This wedding wasn’t bitter cold or exceptionally windy. This time the elephant, however, stood stoically in a cold, penetrating March rain. And like the last, he again remembers […]
[…] in which geneticists are experimentally crossing the coniferous Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) with the deciduous sugar maple (Acer saccharum). You may have seen signage at certain points of entry while driving, or noted boundary blazes or flagging while hiking in the woods if you like to bushwhack. Perhaps you have even come across warning signs posted along a high electrified fence crowned with razor wire […]
We write these blog posts for the benefit of anyone interested, sure, but it’s mostly for our guests — and of which some parts will only have meaning to them. We think of them as keepsakes for what are hopefully terrific times. Though in this case, maybe we should write terrifying times. Maybe a little bit of both sums it up best for this tour. This […]
As Redline Guide Ryan Mcguire would probably prefer, we’ll skip the mundane details about finding the Cranmore Mountain Lodge, renting backcountry touring gear at Ski the Whites, and skinning up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail, and instead jump right into the action. So, after some back and forth deliberation, Ryan decided to guide our visiting mother and teenage son from Massachusetts on a classic “Sherbie” tour. The […]
We love sharing some of our guides’ more significant accomplishments. We’d love to write about all of their accomplishments, but it’d simply be too much work so we stick to the significant bits. And that’s why we’re writing here and now. With the accompaniment of her husband, Rich Gambale, Redline Guide Arlette Laan — whom we write about a lot due to all the cool stuff […]
Unless we are called to officiate a sudden elopement, we just performed a final pre-spring wedding, and like the last, it was atop the 2800′ Mt Willard. Specifically we are referring to the wedding of Jennifer and Karl on Saturday, March 16th, 2019. The mountain-top service was officiated by Redline Guiding owner and New Hampshire Justice of the Peace Mike Cherim, with photographic services offered by […]
“The first ten feet,” he said, “the view is beautiful, but after that who the [expletive] knows.” These were the words were humorously spoken by a many-time returning guest during his recent training trip up to the summit of the 5384′ Mt Monroe — fourth highest of the 4000-footers of NH. Words like that might speak of beauty but hint at disappointment, but there was no […]
[…] knowing that the mountain would always be there another day. The 6288′ Mt Washington is infamous for its winds — winds reaching over 100 miles-per-hour is fairly common. These are the sorts of winds that will lift you up and slam you back down on the ground. The kind of winds that will turn you around. And by that we mean willingly turning around, not […]
