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 […]
SIGN UP WITH EMAIL Volunteer to give back to the WMNF mountains and their trails! For anyone who’s had the privilege of bushwhacking in the White Mountain National Forest (WMNF), you know just how instrumental the trails really are. If you think our trails are rugged, try pushing your way to the top of one of our 4000-footers off trail, amid the “pencil woods” — conifers […]
Spring hiking is here! That’s what Redline Guide Chase Hall discovered yesterday while guiding one oft-returning guest working on their Grid (all 48, every month). Their objective on this hike was to ascend Liberty Spring Trail to Franconia Ridge, tag Mt Liberty, then go after Mt Flume as an out-and-back returning the way they came. The plan for this “Fliberty” hike was straightforward, but the execution […]
What with all the crazy weather we see on Mt Washington, it’s almost a shock to the system to see a winter day such as this one. There were no blizzards, no icy downpours or thunder storms, no rime events, no hail, no avalanches, though breezy, there were no hurricane-force winds, no brutally cold temperatures, no clouds, no earthquakes or volcanos, no asteroid impacts, only limitless […]
He reached out wanting to hike Mt Washington but he had some uncertainty, which is perfectly understandable. He did have some hikes under his belt, mostly in Massachusetts and Virginia where he lived, but he wasn’t fully sure all the same. We listened then encouraged that he try anyway. There would be nothing to lose. Worst case, he’d stop short or maybe take on Mt Monroe […]
Spoiler alert: the Girl Scouts won! And so did we. The plan was to head up Mt Willard (one of those 52WAV peaks) and to check out the Crow Moon — one of the names for March’s full moon — enjoy some hot chocolate, and have a really fun adventure. Due to the visibility and precipitation forecast it was decided to err on the side of […]
We just wrapped up our first of two winter women’s only backpacking experiences for 2025 and it was a success. Learning goes further when coupled with camaraderie and that’s what these campers had. Together they lifted and supported one another. Like a team. As one guest put it: “Thanks for a great overnight, we had to shift gears and we ended up having the experience we […]
A many-time returning guest working on his Grid — which is to hike the 48, every month of the year — grabbed peak number 400 out the 576 needed to complete this daunting task. This happened on Cannon Mountain. On a day like this one, it’s less daunting, though. In fact one might struggle to whisper a complaint on such a gorgeous day as the photos […]
A returning guest who had previously done some skiing in Tuckerman Ravine with us — a teacher — wanted to again have a play day during spring break. This time they sought a different kind of adventure. This time they wanted to partake in a guided half-day hike/snowshoe. Due to the guest’s fitness level and their expectations for the day, we felt the lovely Mt Crawford […]
She told us she stalks everything White Mountains and that our business had been on her RADAR for a while. First of all, hearing this makes us feel wonderful — special — and so we’re glad she finally reached out. Her request was to do a winter hike on a 4000-footer. With which she had some experience having summited Tecumseh in winter as well as some […]
