Volunteer Comment

2010-09-15 17:06:11.000 – Sharon Camp & Sandy Fisher,  Summit Volunteers

We had a delayed arrival on Wednesday evening due to the Auto Road being closed for the day for the filming of the record breaking Rally Car drive up the 7.6 mile Auto Road in 6 minutes, 20.47 seconds. Ken drove us up for our second year of volunteering as cooks for the Obs crew. We arrived in clouds/fog with the road invisible. We had to have faith in Ken with his experience of 4000 plus drives up the mountain as he told us, “OK, there is a sharp right hand turn here”.

After two days in the clouds, 35-50 mph winds and chilly temps, the sky cleared for 9/11 and the crowds arrived. With 110 mile visibility, winds only 5 mph and sunshine, it was perfect Mt Washington weather for our sole opportunity this week for hiking the trails. In observance of 9/11, the American flag was raised on the summit. That evening the Sunset Soiree fund raiser brought a crowd to the mountaintop and we poured 150 glasses of champagne for their sunset toast.

Sunday we witnessed God’s glory with a magnificent sunrise as the peaks poked through the clouds. Within an hour, the fog rolled in as we walked over a mile down the Auto Road, basking in the beauty, peacefulness and solitude.

Cloudy weather throughout our week was condusive to keeping us in the kitchen, busy baking all of our favorites. We received the ultimate compliments of umm’s and ah-h’s as they scraped their plates clean.

We enjoyed sharing the week with the same crew as last year-Steve, Stacey and Mike- and meeting intern Jen and Museum Attendants Ryane and Kristin. They show their dedication and love of an unique job on a special mountain. Marty spent more time with us in the kitchen this year watching us cook.

Last year we had the most perfect weather week here with three sunrises, three sunsets, three clear, starry nights, rime ice, winds gusting over 90 mph and sustaining to 60-80 mph. Yet this week was still an enjoyable and memorable week as each opportunity to live on the summit of Mt Washington is a treasure.

Sharon Camp & Sandy Fisher,  Summit Volunteers