With a huge amount of appreciation, we’d like to thank Black Mountain Ski Area in Jackson for allowing us to use their mountain to conduct glacier skills and mountaineering skills courses, the first of the season having taken place yesterday. This isn’t uncommon and has been the norm for us for several years — for which we’ve always been grateful — but this one was different. […]
The title of this post echos words spoken by those who train with us in the art and science of Wilderness Navigation (using map, compass, and brain capable of critical thinking). This time it was the Pemi Valley Hikers. Teaching this course (and several more on the books), as usual, was Redline Guide Mike Cherim along with co-lead Michael Scire. There’s not much more to tell […]
If you’re a New Hampshire hiker and familiar with the 48 it’s more than likely you’ll get more from the title of this post than those who don’t hike here. To those folks the title may seem a little dark or shadowy, or even troubling, or sad. To us, however, the Isolation part of the title is referring to the shorter (4004′) but still amazing high […]
Every 150 years or so, stemming back to the 11th century, indigenous people in the eastern part of what is now the United States and Canada made a collective effort to re-plant and rejuvenate the limited number of alpine areas for agricultural purposes. The absence of trees made these lands convenient planting locations with full sun, perfect for small, hardy plants transplanted from what is now […]
Our guest from Texas plans to come back to hike Mt Washington this coming summer and, wow, he’s going to be shocked by what the southeastern snowfield looks like without snow smoothing the landscape. That section of Lion Head Trail is “wicked” (as we say up here) convoluted. That said, if wanting experiences in life, coming back to see the not-so-white mountain will be worth another […]
It’s almost April so while it’s not totally unheard of while backcountry skiing, having a “powder day” this late in the season is indeed a lucky break, to be sure. We know our guests up from Mass had a great time making tracks up and back. What follows is a short summary from Redline Guide Erik Samia, who led this day of adventure. We lucked out […]
The title of this post is likely going to be taken as a reference to generally bad weather by our readers but, really, its focus is on a specific element of the weather: the wind. On New England’s taller mountains — the ones offering alpine exposure like Mt Katahdin in Maine, Mansfield and Camel’s Hump in Vermont, and Moosilauke, peaks of the Franconia Ridge, and most […]
The mountains will always have the final say and, as mere mortals, we must abide. Winter Mt Washington trips result in a lot of shorted trips going only as far as we can, due to the frequency of impossible weather, but when it comes to things like traverses we have to be somewhat flexible. This is such a case, the guest wanting “something epic,” though the […]
The last ski trip featured gorgeous weather and this backcountry ski tour was no different, albeit actually spring now. Our guest requested “a dope day” in Tuckerman Ravine and on tap for the day was the line known as Lobster Claw. According to Redline Guide Will Murphy who led this tour, they were also to able include Little Headwall “with some creativity” and the John Sherburne […]
Wanting to experience Franconia Ridge in the snow, but not in extreme conditions, today’s guest had rescheduled from her original winter date, when the forecast was poor. Though now spring, there was still plenty of snow, both on the hike up Falling Waters Trail and across the Ridge itself, where we had abundant sunshine, solid walking surfaces, and very little wind — exactly the rare experience […]
We called this event Another Winter-ish Backpack with emphasis on the “ish” part because, to be accurate, this Backpacking event was fully in the spring. Winter turned to spring at 5:01AM on the 20th of March. This was a couple hours before our guest was to actually show up at our Basecamp. That said, up there in the mountains, complete with four inches of new snow […]
Safe climbable ice is getting tougher to find. In fact, for us, this trip is probably about it unless someone wants to seek it out in the ravines, but even that is going to become sketchy for the most part. The power of ice is impressive, but the longer, warmer days of spring will destroy it with certainty. Redline Guide Gregg Ludvigson, after scouting, decided to […]
