Spring!

2011-05-14 16:08:30.000 – Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer

Laying Down Non-musical Tracks

It appears that summer has finally arrived to the summit. The Mount Washington Auto Road is open to the summit as is the Cog Railway. People are filtering down to the museum and shop where Becca is now in charge. A few of those have become members and resulted in me giving my first tour of the Observatory of the year. Other folks have parked a bit down the road and are making some late season turns in the East Snowfields or the Great Gulf. Although things are melting quickly, there is still snow to be had. I was able to get out early yesterday morning for some turns over in the Great Gulf and decided to head down The Hallway, a lower angle, narrow chute. I had never ridden this before, but it turned out to be quite nice. It was similar to Pipeline Gully in some ways, but not as steep and lacking the exposure of a no-fall ice bulge at the bottom. Conditions on the summit are changing though as a large, slow moving area of low pressure approaches. We are now fully in the fog after going in and out most of the morning. Rain will be on the way before too long and will likely stick around for a while, melting and undermining still more snow. Luckily I got to see the transformation to spring during my offweek, which will keep me going through the coming days of rain and fog!

Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer