We had trained two teams and led them on a hike toward the summit of the frosty “Rock Pile” named Mt Washington this past weekend. This stout 6288′ (4000-foot-plus) mountain is known for its extreme weather, and that’s what the weekend offered. Inset you can see the MWOBS forecast for the Sunday attempt. Note the winds and wind chills. The mountain was earning its reputation. The […]
[…] views are secondary, hiking the Whites is sublime. Our returning guest, a former student, wanted a 4000-footer, something on her list — after all, she is working on hiking the 48 recognized 4000-footers in NH. She also wanted to keep the mileage down being that this would be a full-on winter hike during full-on winter conditions, and a winter shakedown hike at that. Given this, […]
This weekend sort of started the ball rolling for us, so to speak. It began Saturday with a Winter Skills course followed by a Mountaineering Skills course. And this was followed the next day with a successful ascent of Mt Washington — the tallest most badass peak in the Northeast and the crown jewel of the White Mountain National Forest. Atypical of its badassness, however, the […]
“The bears were really active. We followed one up the mountain the entire way, then again on our way down. Probably the same bear — maybe peak-bagging. We never laid eyes on him but we knew he was very close. And likewise to be sure.” This was reported to us by Redline Guide Ken Hodges. Ken was in Vermont guiding a returning guest who opts for […]
In the Valley the leaves have mostly dropped. For days there has been frost on surfaces in the morning. We had a dusting of snow the other day which remains in shady places. The seasons are changing. Here in the Mount Washington Valley, it’s clear winter is stepping up ready to take Autumn’s place. That’s here in the Valley. And from here in the Valley, one […]
With water levels too high to comfortably execute their Plan A, the team’s hope of exploring the ledges of Popple Mountain would have to wait. And, thus a Plan B was formed. Redline Guide Mike Cherim motioned with a thumb over his left shoulder toward the lovely Jackson, NH, and suggested another local “trailless” peak: Thorn Mountain. It was back to the drawing board for our […]
One of the less common routes to Mt Washington is via Davis Path. It’s less common because, simply put, it’d be a heck of a hike. Long miles with lots of gain. But, wow, what a way to go. On the way there is lots to see: Mt Isolation (one of the 4000-footers), Mt Davis, Stairs Mountain (one of the 52 With A View), Mt Resolution […]
The weather offered up fresh snow, rime, and frost. Winter, it seemed, had descended upon the southern Presidential Range. Our guest, from the Netherlands, would surely be impressed. (Spoiler alert: she was.) The story of her adventure we are leaving in the capable hands of our guides, so without further ado… Our guest came to us, as many guests often do, looking for a hike with […]
Our guest wanted to do a six day, five night backpack with us. She wanted some “Type 1 Fun” — which means it’s fun and cool even while you’re doing it. She got plenty of that, being led by Redline Guide Ryan Mcguire. She even got to experience some “Type 2 Fun” — meaning it sucked while doing it but was fun and cool in hindsight […]
The short story is we were called in the 11th hour to guide a half day hike. Our response was, naturally, of course. The rest we’ll let Redline Guide Jeffrey Shutak tell. He is the one who led this hike, and he also offered this nice write-up (edited slightly from the original text) along with the photos which follow: What started out to be a quiet […]
Huntington Ravine: We were asked if it was possible, that it was not too late, and we said yes, we can do this, so we asked our guest to fill out the form. She did, we did, and Huntington Ravine Trail happened. This was a private tour, photo permissions not given (which is totally fine and it’s why we ask), so this post is somewhat limited. […]
We turned three today, going into our fourth year of business […] In a previous life, under the name of a different company, and more than a decade past, a vertical stack of four inches of paper was “used” every two weeks or so. The company was pro-environmental by its very nature — living organisms were sold as biological pest control agents — and at the […]
