Castaway!
2009-02-24 11:37:24.000 – NULL, Stranded Germans
Stranded!
Cast away on Mt. Washington can be fun. After a great week here on the summit with sunshine, snow and winds up to 95 mph we should have left on Saturday. But the world’s worst weather likes us and we like Mount Washington as well. So we extended our time here for a while because the snow cat didn’t make it up. After a week of experiments in cold weather conditions we are now getting into what it is like to be an observer.
Who are we? We are a group of seven German students from the University of Ruhr in Bochum and Humboldt University of Berlin. Although all of us are studying geography, are interested in climatology and were well prepared for the conditions up on the summit none of us would have expected to be stranded up here for 5 extra days. We have been making the best out of it though, helping the observatory staff with cleaning, shovelling and having fun while sledding in the extreme weather. There is just nothing like being blown around the weather deck in 97 mph winds.
We have plenty of food and a great cook. After more than 10 days on the summit we feel qualified to say that the observatory staff really rocks the rock pile. So no need to worry about us. We’re better than fine.
Lisa Gillmann, Eva Henze, Nicola Kleimann, Torben Stasch, Peter Irtmann, Sebastian Schmidt, Marcel Gellissen
(Photo courtesy of Marcel Gellissen)
NULL, Stranded Germans
What the Rockpile Taught Me (Besides How to Dress for the Arctic)
What the Rockpile Taught Me (Besides How to Dress for the Arctic) By Kathryn Hawkes It turns out that living on the top of a mountain will teach you A LOT of things. How
Hiker Safety
Hiker Safety By Fawn Langerman, Dave Fatula and Julie Saccardo USFS Trailhead Steward volunteering season has begun, and hiker safety is on my mind. Truthfully, hiker safety is always on my mind, but more
Watch Our 2026 Annual Meeting and Read About the Highlights
Watch Our 2026 Annual Meeting and Read About the Highlights By Drew Bush United States Representative Maggie Goodlander headlined Mount Washington Observatory’s 2026 Annual Meeting, and she set the tone right from the start.






