Mount Washington Observer Comments

Fri, 18 Jul - Exciting Final Shift

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:16:23 EST

January 29th, 2008. That is a red letter day in the history of my life. I started my internship at the Mount Washington Observatory on that day and loved it from the start. At first, I couldn’t even fathom the idea that I would ever witness such an extensive variety of spectacular meteorological phenomena. Several months and hundreds of weather pictures later, I gathered my best photographs and posted them into my "Unusual Weather Phenomena Photo Gallery", a trilogy of Observer Comments.

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!

Thu, 17 Jul - Marty

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:08:14 EST

Hello, Marty here

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!

Wed, 16 Jul - volunteer comment

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:37:07 EST

Fog. Fog. Fog. Fog. Fog was the operative word this week. We had fog Wednesday after we got here. We had fog Thursday. We had fog Friday. We had fog Saturday during the Newton’s Revenge bike race. We had fog Sunday and Monday. Today? Today the summit of Mount Washington was blessed with sunshine and light winds. So, we experienced it all- our first magnificent sunrise at 5:06am, our first long hike off the summit down to Lakes, over to Boott Spur, and then back up to the summit cone via Tuckerman's, our first breathtaking sunset this week and our first opportunity to stargaze in a clear sky with a splendid moon. In between all of today’s exciting events, we cleaned the Observatory living quarters for the new crew tomorrow, cooked dinner (thanks for the help, Dennis and Jeff!), made cookies, and shopped at the Observatory museum store. What a day! But, despite the aforementioned foggy days, the summit of Mount Washington and the Observatory do not disappoint. The crew is always friendly, the cooking is always appreciated, and there is always something to learn or do. On Saturday, standing at the finish line of Newton's revenge, chatting with the spectators, and watching the bikers pedal (and sometimes walk!) up the last 22% grade hill was enthralling. Our nightly Scrabble competitions were entertaining, as were the dinner conversations. Playing in the strong winds on the obs deck made us laugh uncontrollably. And of course, we enjoyed bonding with Marty, the Observatory mascot! We're so happy to be members of this great organization and we thank the Observatory for the opportunity to volunteer a week on the summit, Patti for the fifth time, and Deidra for the first. We’ll be back!

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!

Tue, 15 Jul - When Your Heads in the Fog

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:58:30 EST

I’ve been told sometimes my head’s in the fog,

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!

Mon, 14 Jul - Dennis

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:59:55 EST

It seems that the daily observer comments requires the writer of the day to make some sort of reference to the clouds that we’re mostly embedded in. Today’s comments will continue along that vain. We've been in the clouds for the most part for this shift. We came up on Wednesday and it was clear for a few hours and then it was clear again late Saturday afternoon. I took advantage of the opportunity on Saturday to hike down from the Observatory to Ball Crag to stretch out my legs. Marty, the Observatory cat, decided that he wanted to go hiking also and followed me. I tried to hike fast enough to keep ahead or even get away from Marty but that didn't work. When I reached the Auto Road, along a location known as the Homestretch, I decided to turn around. I was getting concerned that Marty was getting further away from the Observatory and I was worried about him being near the Auto Road. Marty wasn't happy. He had been "talking" to me during the entire trip down but his tone changed when I turned around. He wanted to keep going, he sat down, then lay stretched out, and sulked. He stayed that way next to the road until I had traveled some distance back towards the Observatory. The next thing I knew, Marty was bounding past me going up the trail and "talking" to me again. He would get ahead of me, then lay stretched out on a rock and wait for me to catch up and pass him. He would then bound ahead of me and lay stretched out on a rock again waiting for me to again catch up. This game was repeated until we reached the Observatory, upon which Marty disappeared. When I got inside the building, Marty was already there. He’s been up here longer than I have and knows all the short cuts.

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!

Sun, 13 Jul - L.L.Bean Man

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:04:49 EST

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!

Sat, 12 Jul - newtons revenge

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:41:42 EST

There was a bustle of excitement on the summit this morning for Newton's Revenge, an annual bike race up the auto road. The road was open from 6am and 8am for spectators to drive up, so the summit was full of people when I woke up. The Mount Washington Auto Road is known as the toughest hillclimb in the world, at 7.6 miles and 4700 vertical feet, making a 12% average grade.

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!

Fri, 11 Jul - Jefferson Snow Field

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:36:20 EST

We finally broke out of the fog for a few hours this morning. As usual it was a very welcomed change that was enjoyed by everyone up here. Two things that were really noticeable were just how green the vegetation is looking now, especially around the Great Gulf area, and secondly how small the Jefferson snow field has become.

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!

Thu, 10 Jul -

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:04:21 EST

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!

Wed, 9 Jul -

Wed, 9 Jul 2008 16:25:07 EST

...

Shop at L.L. Bean and support the Observatory!