Weather is never far from your thoughts at Cannon Cliff. This morning, as we arrive at the carpark, the top is wreathed in cloud, and a swirling breeze blows. Cannon looks cold and foreboding. We vacillate, then head up anyway.

A good forty minute slog up the talus (and some rock surfing) puts us at the climb's start. The ridge's north wall forms a huge cleft, dank and dripping in the shade, and the ridge itself beckons.

Up close, the ridge rears up imposingly, but higher up it fades disquietingly into the mist. Kate gathers her composure for the climb, and then we start.

The first two pitches pass easily, and soon we're at the belay below the crux. To the south, the valley flattens out somewhat, but to the north...

...the main sweep of Cannon sprawls out towards the head of the notch. At this stage of the climb, I feel very small, and very real.

Ahead, the awesome pipe pitch awaits...

I lead through the crux, and things go well. I climb out onto the north wall (past the pipe), and up. From this point, the drop to the talus, hundreds of feet below, is uninterrupted. Kate follows with ease. The clouds have lifted, and the top is nearing.

The final pitches of the ridge pass too quickly, and we are done. At the top, I dangle my feet over the north wall. The sombre cleft below invites dark fantasies, but not for long. (After all, we have just completed the best climb in New Hampshire.)

We head back down, with the satisfaction of a climb well done, and a day well spent.

As we drive south towards Boston, Cannon recedes in the distance, brooding. Its grip on me has subsided for now, but I'll be back on the I-93 before too long.

(More information on the Whitney-Gilman.)

Local guiding service, Chauvin Guides, has some useful information on this climb, including a route description and updates on the latest rockfall-induced changes. (Yep, Cannon Cliff is alive and well, geologically speaking!)

The old guidebook for this area was Ed Webster's Rock Climbs in the White Mountains of New Hampshire (Second Edition), long out-of-print. Recently, "Secrets of the Notch," by Jon Sykes, has been published. Try adventuroustraveler.com. Plenty of other information on the web, of varying quality.

A route description, from the Webster guidebook.

Whitney-Gilman Ridge - Cannon Cliff, NH (500' 5.7)

1. About fifty feet uphill (right) from the base of the ridge, climb a V groove to a ledge (peg). Climb up and slightly right past blocks into a chimney, then step out left onto an excellent belay ledge. 140' 5.4
2. Climb onto the arete on the right, then move left up a shallow V groove (5.5, peg). Move over a large block [block now gone!], then work back right up a narrow, left-facing corner to another great ledge (piton). 100', 5.5
3. The Pipe Pitch. Climb the wide crack on the right to the top of a block (wedging your knee in this crack has already prompted one rescue. Don't be next!) Continue up and right around an exposed corner onto the foreboding north wall. Well protected moves (5.7, pitons) on hidden holds gain the ridge above. Small stance. 65', 5.7
4. Climb over a short blocky step, angle left across a ledge, then climb easy ground to a good ledge (pin) below a left-facing corner. Follow this nice dihedral and flake to a thin crack just left of the actual ridge. Belay on a small stance with a piton anchor. 100', 5.4
5. The new finish: face climb diagonally left (peg) until below a V groove corner about twenty five feet to the left of the final steep portion of the ridge. Surmount a tricky bulge (5.7) past a piton and finish up an easier V groove to the top. 100', 5.7