100 Mile Views in Summer?!

2006-07-20 09:05:36.000 – Jim Salge,  Observer

A beautiful day on the summit…

Two talking points have dominated our conversations during our morning radio shows from the summit this morning. First off, the nice weather in the Northeast seems to be on everyone’s mind today, and the summit has not been spared its ‘niceness!’ Warm temperatures and calm winds aren’t THAT usual on Mount Washington in July, but low humidity and haze free horizons are! At sunset last night, we were treated to views that extended over 100 miles…a summertime rarity!

The real treat came after sunset though, as my aunt and uncle, up from NJ to spend a night on the summit had brought their large telescope. I originally joked with them that if they brought the telescope, we would for sure be in the fog, but instead it turned out to be one of the clearest, darkest summer nights I can remember…what luck!

The other talking point of the morning though has been Seek the Peak, the Mount Washington Observatory’s annual summer fundraiser and BBQ. The organization and the mountain community in general is abuzz with the final preparations for this great event scheduled for Saturday! Local radio personality and long-time friend of the Obs Roy Prescott from WMWV and I chatted off air this morning, and he hopes to take hope the top prize this year…and judging from his on-line pledge page, he might be in the running, but we’ll see Saturday. There are lots of prizes for top fundraisers, and lots of door prizes for all hikers!

If you can’t make the event this weekend, please consider supporting those who have set up pledge pages online, as all proceeds from the hike-a-thon go to benefit our non-profit research and education mountaintop station!

For those who will be in the area this weekend, we hope that you can participate. Registration for hikers will take place Friday at the Mount Washington Center, and Saturday morning at the AMC Visitors Center in Pinkham Notch. The first 250 registrants will receive a goodie bag and event t-shirt! And if you don’t feel like hiking, you can still attend the BBQ at Wildcat, which kicks off at 4PM. We hope to see you there!

Jim Salge,  Observer