Well it is offical. The rock climbing season is over and ice climbing season has just begun. This past weekend Chris and myself headed up to North Conway for some early season ice and some late season rock. Our original plan was to climb some ice on Mount Washington on our first day, but the weather on the mountain was less than ideal. While the temperature on the mountain was in the single digits, with hundred mph gusts, and limited visbility, the temptature in town was a sunny 35 degrees. So the choice was obvious, we went rock climbing. This was possibly the most intresting 5.6 climbing I have done in awhile. With full winter clothing on and just a pair of sneakers the wet, icy rock kept our attention. We climbed four pitches of rock, with an intimidating final move of icy laybacking which turned out to be some of the most fun I had climbing all year. By the next day the weather on the mountain was totally different. So with a clear, calm, and fairly warm day we went into Huntington Ravine to climb the classic Pinnacle Gully. What we found was perfect weather with good early season ice conditions. With the winter season in full swing up north, we can only hope that it won't be long before we are climbing and skiing in our own backyards.

Last Race and Falling Mercury

With the mercury dropping, this past weekend was the last race of the season. 27 degree temperatures, fit Vermonters', and a beautiful course...Does it get much better? Team Berkshire Backcountry faired pretty well finishing the 'moderate' half marathon course in 1 hr 35 mins. It's nice to know that the the rest of fall and start of winter can be focused around our other favorite sports including snowshoeing, ice climbing, and snowboarding (sippin' micro brews is unfortunately not a sport yet). The buzz has begun for ice climbing and snow is in the forecast so you can expect to see our frosty beards out there experiencing all that New England has to offer. See you out there...