Pickup Soccer at 6,288′

2013-11-03 17:02:42.000 – Brian Fitzgerald,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist

A shot and a kick save!

It’s been a tough week trying to get outside and exercise, between the high winds (gusts to 130mph don’t help), driving rain and bitter cold that we’ve experienced so far(temperature outside is about 8.5 degrees as I write this at 3pm). After a while there are only so many excuses you can make to not go outside, so today the crew decided to brave the cold and launch into an impromptu soccer match on the observation deck. Using buckets weighed down with water, which soon became ice, and a foam soccer ball, our two-on-two game began. It didn’t take long to figure out how much of an advantage the down-wind time had, as a 30mph sustained wind was enough to keep the soccer ball rolling to the other end of the deck if you weren’t careful. After some spirited play (and a pause for our a blog photo shoot) we called it quits, considering ourselves lucky that we hadn’t kicked the ball off the deck and subsequently off the summit cone and 4,000 feet below. I think it’s safe to say the game was a success and hopefully given some nicer weather this week, we’ll be at it again. Happy Sunday from the Rockpile!

Brian Fitzgerald,  Weather Observer/Education Specialist