We mentioned winter training was going to be coming after the winter started. Our goal to helping get some eager students from the Hiking Buddies group headed in the right direction as it concerns winter hiking. This would be our third time having already had a Group One and Group Two. Together, we are making an effort to educate. Group Three, and the next one to […]
We all know cheese is big thing in Wisconsin. And apparently, so is possessing a taste for adventure. New Hampshire winter adventure to be precise. That’s what a family from Wisconsin wanted when they reached out back in October. They were looking to a couple of things: one being to take on hiking the famed and fabulous Franconia Ridge and, two, to try some ice climbing. […]
Our most recent guest will be a returning guest after his next visit, and he’ll be a regular guest after that. We say that because today we exposed him to the gateway sport of winter hiking with Redline Guide Brian Wasiewski leading him up 4052′ Mt Jackson — our guest’s first 4000-footer. Brian got a few photos of their day, addiction in progress. Great job, team. […]
Scheduled for yesterday was a one-on-one half-day mountaineering skills course. In this course we teach students the ins and out of using mountaineering crampons, from selecting them to sizing them, all the way to their simple but specific choreography using them with the ice axe in the more advanced pied français (as we call it), hybrid/international, and German/front pointing techniques. We also teach various flavors of […]
A couple weeks ago — back in the fall — our guides were skiing in the backcountry, sending frozen waterfalls and frosty couloirs, and generally settling into a winter of fun. Until, that is, winter actually hit. From that point came the rains and warm weather and for a while now it seems like what some consider the best season of all was revoked, taken back, […]
Flying up from North Carolina, our guest planned to return to the White Mountains making her third visit to our area — and hopefully the one that’s “the charm,” as they say. Her plan was to winter hike or snowshoe, then also ski at one of our local resorts. We’re not sure how the skiing went. Based on how many people were at Wildcat this past […]
One of the benefits to hiring a guide for a one-on-one hiking adventure is that the day belongs entirely to the guest. Say, for example, we’re out with one of our long-time oft-returning guests doing a little shakedown hike on the Kinsmans. It’s a beautiful day, great company, balmy, sunny. Really awesome. The duo venture off to Bald Peak — a common stop for those hiking […]
Friends since the age of eleven, these two guests, both from (old) England, were taking a vacation together, enjoying some of what a wintery New Hampshire has to offer. Besides alpine skiing at Wildcat and a planned beer stop at one of our local breweries, a half day snowshoe hike was the order of the day. On lead for this was Redline Guide Mike Cherim. When […]
When someone asks, what’s the best way to train for hiking, we respond with “hiking.” When someone asks, what’s the best way to train for winter hiking, we respond with “winter hiking,” which, if you didn’t know, comes early in the mountains. So while one may argue it’s still fall so it can’t be winter hiking — and technically they would be correct — tell that […]
We’re thankful for both our guests and our guides. It is this amazing combination that is magic, and it would never work otherwise. We do not take this for granted and realize we are quite simply, blessed for both — and so much more. Recently we have come to learn (or be reminded) that this thankfulness works in more than one direction. Sure, our guests say […]
She had a few mountain peaks under her belt, both 4000-footers and some 52 With a View mountains. What she didn’t have was experience hiking in winter conditions. That is where we came in. It was anything goes in terms of what was up for grabs so Redline Guide Chase Hall offered Mt Liberty (4457′) and the rest is history. Check out this summary from Chase. […]
Backpack, Shack, and Bushwhack! —Guest Done right, the boredom of winter backpacking will get you long before the cold will. And with good company, the boredom is less of a problem. The darkness comes so early, you see, and once camp chores are done, hitting the hay is the only way to be really comfortable. Conversation remaining possible within the confines of their three-sided Adirondack-style shelter […]
