THE BLOG: Insights, advice and news from our summer camp experts
We stumbled upon this article about two dudes boogie boarding a glacial melt river! Glacial boogie boarding!
I have done something similar over in New Zealand called 'river sledging', where we were given a boogie board, flippers, and a helmet and set loose on class III and IV rapids in a narrow canyon. It was exhilarating to say the least and I am sure it is even more intense on a glacier!
Fall is always a great time of year in New Hampshire...especially for a camp director just coming off of a spectacular summer of "work". Having grown up here in the granite state I have a passion for all things outdoors. I have been lucky this year that the weather has been great, the foliage scenic, and my hiking companion has four legs and can't say no to a day in the woods!
The first day of fall for me does not come on a certain date; it is the day I wrap the boat up for the season. This year we had a blast during “summer 2.0”, - what we call what is left of the summer after camp is over – surfing, riding, and occasionally slaloming well into September. At a certain point, though, the water and the sun are no longer warm and it is time to throw in the towel. After eight hours of cleaning, waxing, and winterizing, the Centurion was ready to hibernate until the spring.
Mountain biking has been taking up a lot of my time this fall as I discovered a fantastic network of trails just minutes from my house. Bear Brook State Park has miles and miles of terrain of varying difficulty and great spots to catch your breath and take it all in (see above). It is easy to waste away a whole day cruising the trails.
Of course, New Hampshire is famous for its hiking and I have been trying to get up to the mountains a few times a week to conquer some peaks. This year the foliage has been on full display with limitless views in the mountains of yellows, reds, and oranges.
I do not see a lot of wildlife these days as Tuckerman, my hiking buddy, is not a stealth hiker. He is only ten months old and still has limitless energy which makes enough noise on the trail to scare almost everything away. We have had some great days hiking smaller NH mountains as I get him ready for higher peaks and his namesake trail on Mt. Washington next spring.
Of course fall fun does not have to be confined to your home base. I was lucky to have spent a couple of weeks in the Caribbean earlier this month and got to scuba dive, sail, and lounge in the sun.
It is hard to look cool in a foam life jacket but rules are rules right?
I hope that you all are having as much fun this fall as I am and feel free to send over some pics (evan@watermonkeycamp.com) of what you have been up to and maybe we will feature that on the blog!
Cool post from Lonely Planet on extreme sports. 20 unmissable extreme sports
I am lucky to have done the majority of these and am pumped to try a few others.
Last weekend I embarked on a little New Hampshire adventure. Part 1: Ice Climbing. Part 2: Hike/snowboard down Mt. Washington. Part 1
Ice climbing is something that I have always wanted to try out. Growing up in NH I had ample opportunities to go rock climbing and have enjoyed it over the years. As a camp director at a large summer camp I spent many hours perfecting my belaying skills helping campers learn how to climb. Ice climbing, though, never really presented itself to me and it was not until a friend invited me on a trip that I was finally able to try it out!
The day started early up in North Conway, NH. We met our guide, a young, yet seasoned climber, who geared us up for the day.
Their little gear room had everything you would ever need for a day out in the notch. Specialized crampons, ice axes, ropes, harnesses, ice screws, helmets, and alpine hiking boots. We quickly found our appropriate sizes and packed all of our borrowed gear for the day.
Our climbing location was only about 20 minutes from North Conway, just before Wildcat Mountain on route 16. The parking lot was an easily missed turn off and was devoid of any other cars besides ours. It was a gorgeous day as we set off from the lot.
This really cool walking bridge crossed a little river adjacent to the road.
After the bridge it was a nice hike along the banks of the river and then up for about half a mile to a spot called "The Amphitheater". This was a massive cliff face entirely covered in light blue ice.
The guide then gave us a brief lesson. He refreshed our belay skills and knot skills and then demonstrated how all of the ice climbing gear worked.
We watched as he scaled the ice cliff, inserting ice screws along the way for safety. Every step of the way he was teaching us the best tactics to safely and efficiently climb utilizing the massive crampons on our feet and the curved ice axes in our hands. He made it look way too easy...we found out quickly - and then again and again for the next eight hours - that ice climbing was not easy at all!
This is how it worked for the day. The four of us rotated through different faces of the ice while belaying or climbing. While on belay, we were safe to climb and, sometimes, fall, without getting hurt.
I have to admit that one embarrassing event happened to me during the day. A veteran ice climber will use his/her legs far more than his/her arms. I was relying almost entirely on swinging the axes and pulling myself up, barely using my legs to push. Nearly at the peak of the most difficult ice face of the day, I felt my arms getting weak. Barely able to swing the ice axes, I eventually lost my grip on the one in my left hand. I hung for a few seconds by my right arm, frantically trying to land my crampons in a secure space and recover before totally losing my grip. Alas, it was not to be. I felt my right hand slip from the ax and I fell, putting all of my weight onto the rope and hanging there like a puppet on a string. My belayer lowered me to the ground but before I could take myself off the rope someone managed to capture a picture of me at the bottom, ice axes still securely affixed to the ice above.
Oops.
Ice climbing was fun. I cannot wait to try it again.
Part 2 coming soon; hiking and boarding on Mt. Washington.
Water Monkey Camp is super stoked to be sponsoring NH USASA competitions this season. USASA is a series of competitions for young snowboarders and freeskiers which takes place all over the country. Check out their website below: NH USASA Website
We were fortunate to get the opportunity to aid their mission of promoting skiing and boarding by becoming a sponsor this season.
This past weekend the NH USASA held a competition at Loon Mountain (where I grew up boarding). We are giving away private wakeboard lessons as well as full camp scholarships as part of our sponsorship deal with NH USASA. Snowboarding and freeskiing go hand-in-hand with what we do at camp (wakeboarding, waterskiing, wake surfing, and wake skating) and what we hope to do is get the USASA competitors excited to try out some watersports, whether they do it on their own or with us at camp.
This dude was lucky to win some private lessons with us out on the lake this summer.
Watersports and camp are important to us but getting kids outside and having fun in a constructive environment all year long is our ultimate goal.
Keep riding.