Tag Archives: Whitney Gilman Ridge

JT and Amanda climb the Whitney Gilman with MMG

1 Reply

A week ago I got the opportunity to climb the awesome Whitney Gilman Ridge on Cannon Cliff with two inspiring teens. JT and Amanda tackled the physical challenges of the 600′ 5.7 climb with relative ease. Add on the hour long approach straight up a 1,000′ talus field, and the knee numbing hour long descent straight down (welcome to hiking northeast style) , and they had one heck of an outing. What really impressed me though was that coming with relatively little experience (first day outside for JT, one of the first for Amanda) they handled the “exposure” on this infamous climb as though it were nothing. To those who aren’t hip to the climbing lingo, exposure refers to how the hight of a climb feels. This being a ridge climb with a straight drop on one side, and truly being situated on the side of a mountain, the exposure is real. To get a sense of what I mean, check out the photos here…https://goo.gl/photos/RS7YUbdkeE5faX6KA

Here’s a little teaser!

IMG_1963

It doesn’t get much more exposed

IMG_1932

JT on the pitch 2 crux

P.S. the history of this route is pretty fascinating. See Yankee Rock and Ice for more detail, but it was first done in 1929! Hassler Whitney, one of the first ascensionists, was also a famous mathematician https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassler_Whitney

November Wild Card

1 Reply

It’s pretty incredible how much of a wild card November can be for climbing in NH. Today was sunny with a light breeze and I climbed more than comfortably in a long sleeve shirt and a wind breaker. but backtrack to last year around this time (Nov. 14th) and I was doing a wholly different kind of climbing on Cannon…

Starting up the Dike in Mid November

Starting up the Dike in Mid November

And throw it back 2 days shy of 2 years and I was hypothermic doing this in a blizzard!

Matt Ritter on a wintery early November Ascent of Cannonade on Cannon Cliff

Matt Ritter on a wintery early November Ascent of Cannonade on Cannon Cliff

Matt Ritter and Erik Thatcher on a Wintery ascent of the Cannonade Buttress on Cannon. PC: Dustin Portzline

Matt Ritter and Erik Thatcher on a Wintery ascent of the Cannonade Buttress on Cannon. PC: Dustin Portzline

But back to today, having the cliff to ourselves but for the military planes blasting through the notch below us, was exceptional. The Whitney Gilman Ridge is a climb I’ve done more times than I can remember, but it remains an exceptional spot to bring friends, clients, or in the case of today, a former students, for a first real taste of exposure and alpine rock…

I was psyched to be able to share the climb with Jack, one of the first students I’ve had at Holderness who really got psyched for climbing. Getting to link up with those students after their holderness career is a pretty exceptional feeling.

Bluebird. The clean line of the Witney Gilman Ridge cast against the shadow behind and the blue sky above is awesome
Jack on P1
Jack on P2
Jack on P3
Jack just after the crux “Pipe Pitch” Move P4
Jack at the top of P4
Sunshine from the South
Jack on the house of cards section of the final pitch
Clear view of the Rockfall from two summers ago…let loose from the white rock in the upper left corner, and obliterated the trees that use to be in the lower right