Five Years Ago

2010-11-24 22:59:57.000 – Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist

My favorite picture from five years ago

Time to get a little sentimental. Five years ago on this very day, I made my first ascent to the summit of Mount Washington, by snow tractor. The occasion? I was coming up with the Observatory crew for shift change so that I could be interviewed as an intern candidate for the winter 2006 internship. I had hiked up (most of) Mount Washington only one other time that previous May for a three-day, two-night stay at Hermit Lake to ski Tuckerman Ravine for the first time. That also happened to be my first (of many to come) backcountry ski experience. That trip had a big-time impression on me, and was ultimately what led me to apply for the internship in the first place.

Although I remember many things about that day, but I won’t bore you with all the details. I will tell you however that the weather turned out fantastic. Thick fog when I arrived broke up by the afternoon to reveal a nearly complete overcast of altocumulus above us and a nearly complete undercast below us; a cloud sandwich if you will (see thumbnail picture). Winds also died down to relatively calm levels, making the time I had after a very intimidating interview great for exploring a bit, and taking a ton of pictures. When we finally departed, I left knowing that even if I didn’t get the internship, I had gotten a great experience from the interview alone.

As it turned out, Ken offered me the internship position in the conference room of the maintenance garage upon our arrival back at the base. Naturally, I immediately accepted. Until that moment, I was clueless to the fact that Jim Salge offering to give me his old ice axe (that was partially broken) was a sign that they had already decided to offer me the position.

As corny as it sounds, that day changed the course of my life. I applied for that internship never expecting to even get interviewed, and now here I am five years later, having worked for the Observatory for 3.5 years as a full-time observer. Just goes to show that you never know exactly what the future will hold, no matter how sure you are, or how much you plan. In this case, that’s a very good thing.

To finish off this trip down memory lane, here are two other pictures I came across from my internship:

Me and Ryan (we were interns at the same time), on our way to get the precip can

My second day as an intern, and I got to meet Stephanie Abrams from the Weather Channel!

Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist