Hike to S. Presidentials 2009-03-21 16:22:34.000 - Jordan Scampoli,  Summit Intern NULL As Stacey mentioned yesterday, it was quite the day! Incredibly light winds coupled with no clouds made for one of the best days I've had on the summit so far. I was able to get out for a hike, which made the day even better. I took a leisurely stroll down the Crawford Path past Lakes of the Clouds and up onto Mt. Monroe, stopping briefly to talk to a few other hikers. I made my way down to Mt. Franklin, then doubled back to a false summit

First day of spring! 2009-03-20 12:29:18.000 - Stacey Kawecki,  Observer sublimating rime Today is the first day of spring. It is going to be a beautiful day on the summit, in the valleys, and pretty much up and down the entire eastern seaboard. It is very fitting. Spring means melting snow, skiing in t-shirts, birds and their songs, longer days, shorter nights, and the overall greening of the valleys, as well as the unavoidable mud season.Today, winds will be light and variable on the summit, a somewhat unusual occurrence. Temperatures will rise into the lower teens and skies overhead will

De-icing 2009-03-19 12:08:29.000 - Steve Welsh,  IT Observer De-icing So what exactly is the contraption shown in the accompanying picture? Read on to find out.Yesterday we had several periods of freezing rain and ice pellets which left everything, including our office windows, covered in hard opaque ice. This morning we started to clear from the freezing fog and, rather that running up and down the stairs to keep an eye on the weather, we decided to try and clear the ice from the office windows. After some trial and error we found that positioning a low powered heater several inches

Volunteer Thoughts 2009-03-18 08:55:28.000 - Mt. Washington,  Summit Volunteers Marty's Bad Fur Day. It's been an incredibly busy and beautiful week up here on the rock pile. We had the amazing experience of viewing sunsets and sunrises seven out of seven days;along with the opportunity to meet a variety of fascinating and interesting people. Mike and I spent the better part of the week in planning, preparation, serving and clean up for Edu trips, special visits, day trippers and EMS hikers. We have developed and honed our skills for managing busy weeks and look forward to reflecting on and refining

Happy St. Patty's Day! 2009-03-17 20:19:50.000 - Cara Rudio,  Marketing and Communications Coordinator WOKQ morning show, broadcasting live on Wednesday! Happy St. Patty's Day from the Top O' the Rockpile! Today brings us our yearly visit from Dover, NH-based 97.5 WOKQ, who will be broadcasting their morning show live from the summit tomorrow morning from 5 to 10 a.m. The broadcast will include an interview with observer Brian Clark and myself, and general discussion of all things Mount Washington. Be sure to tune in, or listen online!The other big highlight of the day? A sweet new 37" flat screen TV,

Mountain Life 2009-03-16 22:00:06.000 - Mike Finnegan,  IT Observer The Raven's Playground It is a rarity on the summit to experience this many fogless days in a row. Although a bit hazier today, with temperatures in the 20's, it is quite beautiful. With the freezing rain we had earlier in the week, combined with the sublimation of the ice, things are quite slick outside, but are perfect for crampons. The key is to be able to arrest immediately if you slip otherwise you're in for a ride until you hit something or reach the flats. Working days, it is not

Taking control. 2009-03-16 00:42:21.000 - Ryan Knapp,  Staff Meteorologist Take control how you see fit. Over the weekend, I have had to deal with the movement of time. On Saturday, I had a birthday and had to leave yet another year in the past and move one year ahead. But such is life, time continues to fly forward; there are seldom any do-overs, or make-ups. We take the good and bad and move forward, hopefully learning from the past to prepare for our future. This got me thinking of an idea for this weeks Obscast (a video "blog" for our

Some nice changes 2009-03-14 16:24:03.000 - Ali Boris,  Summit Intern Lenticulars to the east My second favorite type of Mount Washington weather (next to, of course, over 100 mph winds and only a little precip hitting your face) is sunny with a few clouds. This morning, we woke up to a big, beautiful lenticular cloud formed by the W winds blowing over the summit. It was accompanied by a sky tinted light orange and pink, and glistening ice cover over the nearby mountain peaks. With the exception of some partial clouds, the next few days will be sunny and "balmy"

Molding Young Minds 2009-03-13 14:26:55.000 - Brian Clark,  Observer and Meteorologist Unrelated to this comment, but very pretty For most people that get the opportunity, spending time on Mount Washington during the winter is a very memorable experience and often one not easily or quickly forgotten. After my internship during the winter of 2006 (and before I knew for sure that I would be coming back as a full time observer a year later), that was certainly the case for me.If you read these observer comments on a somewhat regular basis, you know that we recently had two separate groups

Summit Intern Agenda 2009-03-12 21:02:17.000 - Ali Boris,  Summit Intern 25% of what I do: bug the observers. When people come to visit the summit, they often ask me what I do while I'm up here. I usually tell them what I do for about 50-60% of my time: shovel, bother the observers, eat, and sleep. But in the past weeks, I've increasingly been filling my days with my research project that I get to work on as an intern up here on the summit.I'm going to be going to grad school this fall to study atmospheric chemistry, so the