Updates
On May 24, Friends of the Ledges hosted its first volunteer stewardship day at Jockey Cap Nature Area. 5 graffiti tags were removed from the Jockey Cap formation and the popular Peary Boulder using Elephant Snot and our new battery powered pressure washer. Approximately 6 bags of trash were also removed. This effort was part of FOTL's commitment to being the local steward for Jockey Cap, which was permanently conserved last year through a partnership between Upper Saco Valley Land Trust and the Town of Fryeburg. As part of that conservation effort, USVLT is raising funds to complete much need stewardship projects on the property later this fall. Check out the page on our website (link below) highlighting this important work and the need for the community's financial support. https://www.nhledges.org/projects-campaigns/jockey-cap-stewardship/
FOTL board members Kurt Winkler and Mike Morin spent the morning removing several trees that had blocked the popular Bryce Path where it crosses the Upper Saco Valley Land Trust Climber's Preserve. Did you know that FOTL is the volunteer steward for the Climber's Preserve and Jockey Cap Nature Area, two USVLT conserved properties that have protected climbing access in the Mount Washington Valley. As stewards, FOTL also supports USVLT fundraising efforts for these properties when stewardship needs rise above volunteer capabilities. This is one of the those moments! Check out our website (link below) for details about USVLT's fundraising campaign for Jockey Cap and make a donation directly to USVLT via the link on that page. https://www.nhledges.org/projects-campaigns/jockey-cap-stewardship/
A giant piece of rock like Cathedral Ledge might seem like to most static and solid thing you could possibly think of, but sometimes nature surprises us. In the spring of 2022 there was a large rockfall event at Cathedral during a rainstorm, and a big chuck of the route Retaliation broke off. This rockfall took out a large section of the approach trail to the Ventilator Slabs area, and flattened the bolts on the routes Starfire and Once Upon a Climb in the process. Although volunteers were out dealing with the mess almost immediately after, it has taken several years to fully clean up this section of the cliff. Last week @bam_sendroth and @monkeyhouse221 were able to replace the bolts on Starfire and Once Upon a Climb. Here’s Sam’s account of the process: “In 2018, I Sam Bendroth the High Sky Marshall of Bolt Replacement for FOTL, replaced all of the bolts of the lower left slabs of Cathedral Ledge. Two of those routes were Starfire and Once Upon a Climb. Fast forward to 2022, there was a significant rock fall on a route above this area that damaged many of the bolts on the previously mentioned routes. I wanted to let the slope above settle out before rappelling below. We trundled a lot of loose rock off of the ledge right after the rock fall. I recently replaced nine bolts that were damaged in the rock fall. I was able to reuse all of the existing holes that I had previously drilled. Great to see that the rebolting systems FOTL has put into place work!” Scroll through for a peek into FOTL’s bolt replacement process and to see the damage that occurred to the bolts. Also notice the vegetation growing back on the rock fall debris below Sam in the first photo! Great work Sam and Katie, thank you! • • • • • #rebolting #reboltingproject #localclimbingorganization
It’s spring Cliff Cleanup season and this year we’re mixing things up a bit! We’ll be over in Fryeburg cleaning up Jockey Cap, and we hope you’ll join! This Saturday, May 24th, 3-6pm. We’ll meet at the new Jockey Cap trailhead, 2/10 of a mile east of the Molly Ockett Middle School in Fryeburg. The parking lot is on the left, past the Jockey Cap store. We will provide trash bags, bug spray, and refreshments, see you there! 🧗♀️ @robindavenport 📷 @joshlaskin
Good morning! With the snow and ice starting to melt, our bolt replacing team is gearing up for the season, and they need your input! This is a great time to let us know about bad bolts that you have encountered while out climbing, or routes that you feel are in particular need of updated hardware. The hardworking bolt replacers want to take your feedback into account! You can find the form by clicking the “Bolt Replacement” link in our bio, and then clicking “submit an observation”. On that page you can also peruse the list of routes that have already had their hardware updated. Thanks for your help, and enormous thanks to all who have submitted observations over the years. This effort takes a passionate and dedicated community and we’re lucky to have that around here! 📷 by @white_mountain_rambler of @bam_sendroth @jon_nicolodi and @owenmcandrew doing bolt replacement training.
We need your help! If you’re an ice climber who climbs in the Mount Washington valley we encourage you to please take part in this study! The link can be found in our bio. • You may remember a survey that we sent out last year about this same topic, that survey was a preliminary investigation created by FOTL, and through it we discovered that the economic impacts of ice climbers are likely significant and worth studying. This study is the next step, and is far more legitimate. It is being conducted by researchers at Vermont State University and the results could be instrumental in the protection of ice climbing access. Even if you took last year’s survey, we ask that you also take the time to take this one as well. • Ice climbers have long contributed to the economies of the areas they visit, but the demographic profile of ice climbers, their use patterns, and their economic impacts are not well understood. Participation in this study should take approximately 15 minutes. For more details please contact Ben Mirkin, Ph.D. at [email protected] • Please share with your friends and communities, and thank you in advance for taking the time to help!
This great alternate approach to Frankenstein was recently brought to my attention and I just wanted to share it with you all. It’s faster and more direct than the Frankenstein Cliff trail, and still allows one to stay off the tracks for a good section of the approach. It’s so fast it might even be faster than walking the tracks! Start out from the lower lot and hike straight, past the outhouse, crossing a dry stream bed. As this trail starts to bend back towards Route 302, there is a small sign for the Frankenstein Cutoff on the left, take this, it is a blue blazed trail. You can follow it to connect with the Frankenstein cliff trail, and then gradually contour up towards the tracks. You’ll pop out beside the tracks at a small cairn, within sight of the trestle. Also wanted to let everyone know that on the days when the train comes through (Saturdays, Sundays of MLK and Presidents weekends, and February vacation week) it does so at around 11:30am and 1:00pm. Pretty much right in the middle of the day, so it should be fairly easy to avoid being on the tracks when it comes through. However there have also been a fair number of maintenance vehicles passing by on random days/random times. Ice climbing in Crawford Notch is in full swing, and I’m noticing tons of trails broken out to avoid the tracks, and folks being really aware and courteous out there — Thank you all so much! Our ice climbing survey will be up soon, hoping you’re all getting ready to share it far and wide! Happy climbing! - Molly
Happy Winter Solstice! *This is a long one, please read to the end.* We wanted to reach out with an update on access to Crawford Notch climbing as we move fully into ice climbing season. As you may know the Conway Scenic Railroad is running trains into Crawford Notch this winter. Currently our traditional access to Frankenstein and Mount Willard is tenuous. A committee of local guides and community members under the umbrella of Friends of the Ledges has been working to establish a cooperative relationship with the Conway Scenic. We are also working on long term solutions to keep our access to these ice climbing areas. Here’s what you need to know: The Conway Scenic Railroad has a train scheduled once a day on Fridays and Saturdays from now until Jan 4th, through Crawford Notch from North Conway to the Highland Center. It will leave N. Conway at 10:30, returning by 2:30. Thus it will be in the tracks in that timeframe. There may be maintenance trains on the tracks at other times/days as well. After January 4th, the railroad plans to run trains into the notch on weekends and during February vacation week. They hope to go “as far as conditions allow”. It’s hard to know what this will end up looking like. The railroad has agreed that we can cross the tracks at areas that access the climbs. ~ We understand that the current access issue comes with some grey areas, and we acknowledge that we don’t currently have all the answers. We are asking you to use your best judgment to avoid potential conflict.~ In the meantime we’re working with experienced researchers to do an extensive economic impact study that can eventually be used to enhance advocacy and if necessary, secure funding for trail building, parking lots and plowing. We plan to have a survey to gather data for this study up soon, keep an eye out! And please help by: 1. Demonstrating considerate and careful use of this resource. Help break in trails to avoid the tracks, spread the word, be polite and respectful if you encounter railroad employees, and don’t leave anything on or near the tracks. 2. Filling out the survey once it’s up! Thank you for your understanding and help.
Hello all! You may have heard that we have another fun stewardship project planned in collaboration with @heyflashfoxy this weekend at Cathedral Ledge! The weather looks beautiful and we’re all excited to get out there and take care of one of our favorite places. We’ll have several trail projects going on, including installing a new retaining wall in the recompense approach trail, and putting in a couple more rock steps on the Ventilator Area trail. We’ll also do our usual mega-trash-cleanup to leave Cathedral and Whitehorse looking nice as we head into fall. So come join, EVERYONE is welcome - whether you are attending the festival or not. The stewardship project and cliff cleanup will be Sunday September 29th. We will meet at the cliff at 9:30 and work until 12:00. The parking area will be busy so please carpool if possible. Huge thanks to @arcteryx for providing snacks for everyone! 📷 by @themegallen from our stewardship day two years ago. 📍Abenaki, Pennacook, Pequawket, and Wabanaki land.
Thank you all so much for filling out the Crawford Notch winter use survey! We've received around 400 responses and we're deeply grateful to all of you for helping us collect this information. If you ice climb in Crawford Notch -- especially if you travel from somewhere else to do so -- and haven't filled out the survey yet, please consider filling it out. And if you have already filled it out, please consider sharing it with others who use this resource. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdyvnS1muwug8Kv53XR6vot2zLNmqYtE8kmwgoTs6MPtaLIEA/viewform?usp=sf_link A note on the survey: Questions can be left blank. If a question does not apply to you just leave it blank, thanks!
I know it’s hard to think about winter right now, but we need your help. Do you ice climb at Frankenstein Cliffs and/or Mount Willard? Access to climbing areas involves the coordination and cooperation of different land owners and stakeholders. As you know there is still the potential for access to ice climbing in Crawford Notch to become restricted. In order to facilitate continued cooperation Friends of the Ledges is gathering information about the use of these venues by ice climbers, which we hope can form the base for an economic impact study. We need your help and input! FOTL and a committee of invested local guides have put together a questionnaire designed to gather some information (link in bio). We would greatly appreciate you completing the survey and submitting it. Please share it wide and far with anyone who ice climbs in these amazing areas. Thank you! If you are the owner of a guide service that operates in Crawford Notch in the winter and have not yet done so, please take the time to fill out the survey for guided winter use in Crawford Notch (link also in bio). Thank you in advance for your help!