[…] heights were reached that most cannot reach. It was one of those days, to be sure, and we had more than one party on Mt Washington. Also up there, climbing the same route, aiming for the same summit — and also running the same two-day program — was Redline Guide Ken Hodges. The training in his case was done over a week ago. Another difference […]
Many of our guests complete our two-day program with a near-summit of Mt Washington, happy nonetheless stoked by witnessing truly crazy weather. The mountain’s an ill-tempered character and it yells at us kids to get off its lawn. It’s an experience. On some days, however, if you tread lightly and think good thoughts, the old man sleeps. The kids scamper freely. This was one of those […]
What did you get for your birthday? Some things? A cake, perhaps? All lovely, we’re sure, and all very traditional. One guest and long time friend of Redline Guiding, however, hoped to celebrate her birthday in an atypical way. She wanted an experience! That makes sense to us. Experiences last while most things don’t. Especially nowadays. Originally the plan was for our guest to take our […]
A couple of climbers, trained and tried once, were stopped at Mt Washington’s door (probably due to weather). They were back, and after it again. Or that was the plan. The next date selected for it ended up being what would have been a great summit day but one that sounded bad enough beforehand that they opted to pass on the date and move it to […]
We had couple of fellows reach out looking to salvage their day. They had planned on coming up to do some ice climbing with a group but it ended up getting canceled as climbable ice is limited right now (that may change briefly, now with snow on its way — cross your fingers). Instead of ice climbing they opted for a Glacier Skills Course. This, we […]
Flexing our flexibility is sometimes what we have to do. Flipping the safety switch, as needed. Here’s what happened: A returning guest reached out, so stoked about her recent winter hiking experience with us that she wanted to do it all again. This time, though, she also wanted to introduce her husband to the sport. Since Redline Guide Chase Hall led her last time, he was […]
She wanted to get certain 4000-footer peaks hiked so we got her out there for one trip. We put Redline Guide Chase Hall on it and it worked out well. Naturally, one success leading to another, when she came to us with a list of peaks for March, we knew what to do. We put Chase on it again. Up next? This round’s objective was to […]
Down low, in the Mt Washington and Androscoggin Valleys, it wasn’t bad. Winter still but we hit the low 50s at one point when the sun was trying to take over. We could see the cloud layer above and wondered how bad it was above treeline. Up there there’d be cool winds and misty clouds — what they call “hypothermia weather.” It did look like they […]
A returning father/son came back to complete their mountaineering adventure with us. We’re not sure how long the ice will be around in lower elevation spots like this, but the team did get the goods on this visit. Not only did they climb up and rappel down Willey’s Slide, Redline Guide Pat Ferland also showed some of the tricks of the trade, so to speak. Pat […]
With age comes wisdom. Wool replaces cotton. We wear seatbelts on our drive to and from the trailhead. We get enough sleep, stay hydrated, and we don’t go it alone as often as we used to. We’re reminded — sometimes by a spouse — that there are bold hikers and there are old hikers, but rarely seen is one who’s bold and old. Hire a guide […]
Being an east coast company, one might guess seeing a lot of business from the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) crowd is rather unlikely. But that’d be incorrect… much to our surprise and delight. The reality is that a lot of people headed over there to hike the PCT are temporarily leaving this coast to do so. To them, at least during the prep phase, we’re local. […]
We had a fellow new to backcountry skiing looking to get out and sample the goods. He had heard good things. While he was new to the scene, he opted to forego our more formalized training and to jump right in. He was a confident, skilled skier so this would be no problem. Which is good because as is typical in the backcountry, conditions were variable […]
