Cabin Fever

2013-03-03 18:22:23.000 – Michael Kyle,  Summit Intern

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For the past four day’s fog has engulfed the summit. Repetitive forecasts have made the days long and redundant, leaving some of us with a case of ‘cabin fever’. However, if you think about it, cabin fever isn’t the appropriate term to use. According to the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, cabin fever is defined as ‘extreme irritability and restlessness from living in isolation or a confined indoor area for a prolonged time.’

While the observatory is an isolated location and the current observers and volunteers have yet to leave the summit this week, cabin fever doesn’t really describe life at the Mount Washington Observatory . For starters, ‘extreme irritability’ is not an issue as all of the observers and volunteers get along great. In fact, every night we all sit down together to eat dinner and usually proceed to watching a movie afterwards. The ‘restlessness’ is also irrelevant. We are constantly staying active between taking weather observations, de-icing the instrumentation, shoveling, performing research, and many other outdoor activities. Lastly even though we are technically in an isolated location, we are never really alone up here. Every week there are Edu Trips , Day trips or Partner Led Climbing trips that come to visit the summit for the day or night.

So is it really cabin fever? With busy and eventful days that are occasionally lengthened from continuous fog, maybe it’s Summit Fever. If you have a better idea, we would like to hear it. Visit our Facebook page and let us know.

Michael Kyle,  Summit Intern