They knew that the forecast wasn’t calling for ideal conditions for their half-day afternoon snowshoe hike, but they were resigned to love it no matter what. With a great attitude like that one can’t go wrong, right? And that describes the general attitude of the extended family referred to us by Bretton Woods for a mountain snowshoeing adventure. Bring it, they exclaimed, ice rain, rain rain, […]
Our second winter trip up the 6288′ Mt Washington took place this weekend. This sentence in of itself is unremarkable, until one considers we are still several days from the start of actual winter. Moreover, it’s not a typo, because on the mountain, it’s been full-on winter for weeks. Apparently Mt Washington didn’t receive or read the memo. Maybe it landed in the Junk folder. The […]
It was a long, burly, windy, snow-filled day, but damn was it fun. Mountain running in December is not something we advertise, but it is apparently what we can do. In snowshoes, if needed. At least that’s what Redline Guide Erik Samia did, along with an ultrarunner from Massachusetts! And not only does she run, our guest is also a “redliner” — meaning she is hiking […]
The team successfully summited the mountain and our guests had an amazing experience […] Visiting from Connecticut guests Laura and Mike, a husband-wife team, wanted to experience our tallest peak, the grandest of the “4000-Footers,” the 6288-foot Mt Washington — in winter conditions. And right now, trust us when we say winter is in full swing on the mountain. It’s not far behind in the Valley, […]
That’s what this weekend felt like. Beginning Friday we instructed four pretty diverse wilderness education courses. First up we ran a River Skills Course. Much to our surprise this was much less painful and far more enjoyable than we had envisioned, despite having to traverse shore ice getting to the river. Next up was our very popular Wilderness Navigation Course. This was doable thanks to limited […]
Originally our plans for the day included a foray into the Northern Presidentials, as was requested by our returning guest, Oleg. Mts Adams or Madison would surely fit the bill as a training hike for bigger things later in the winter. The plan was to push hard for this, to earn it, but what with the recent early-season snow and the difficulty of unbroken trails, it […]
IMPORTANT NOTE: This page was updated in 2020 and in 2025 to reflect list modifications made by its creators. If you are looking for something less, something different, something under four-thousand feet in elevation, look no further. Though trust us when we add that sometimes less is actually more. In other words, some of the mountains on this list, while under 4000-feet, are really quite challenging […]
We expected a little early season dusting, but we ended up with a considerable amount of snow. As of Wednesday morning’s MWOBS’ report the summit of the 6288′ (1917m) Mt Washington had collected 15″ (38cm) of snow and rime ice with deeper drifts. Meanwhile down in North Conway itself the conditions were rainy. We will admit, this affected our gearing-up decision-making prior to Redline Guide Jeffrey […]
We were honored to be contacted by an organizer with the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) seeking hiking guides for a half day. We quickly formulated a plan for a hike and put things into motion, the organizer reaching out to his members and alumni, and we on our end preparing gear and taking other necessary steps. The WWP “serves veterans and service members who incurred a […]
That’s how Redline Guide Ken Hodges described the 5260-foot Mt Lafayette — a NH 4000-footer — Saturday when he was leading a couple on a special tour. We say “special” because the day actually stemmed from a postponed exploration adventure of Lincoln Slide. This slide exploration was supposed to happen today. Finally. But, as was the case in the wedding we had the same day, the […]
A recent guest from sunny California, Nancy, was staying at Loon Mountain and wanted to hike with us for a day. We decided the conveniently located 5260-foot Mt Lafayette would be a nice mountain for her to experience and enjoy. It is, after all, the crowning jewel of the world-renowned Franconia Ridge. Running the show on this hike, so to speak, was Redline Guide Ryan Mcguire. […]
Not too much, not too little, something just right. Just like Goldilocks would like. This was the order of the day. Moreover, our guest, Kathleen from New Jersey, wanted some views, but no real exposure or scrambles. No problem, custom requests is what we’re all about. Redline Guide Jeffrey Shutak and owner Mike discussed it and decided that the Boulder Loop Trail just off the Kancamagus […]
