Volunteering to Support MWO

2017-07-05 08:00:24.000 – Richard Briggs & Rich Atkins, Summit Volunteers

So now the time comes to get the ride up the mountain I am sitting in the parking lot at 7am and a young man comes up and introduces himself he was an intern for the weather program he asked if I was a volunteer for the week, I said yes and he immediately began telling me about himself and the others and the experiences on the Rockpile. His enthusiasm and excitement for his work was fantastic. Soon the other interns, staff and my co-volunteer Rich Atkins arrived we loaded our gear and we were on our way.

Once at the summit we linked up with the other volunteers and they showed us around the kitchen and explained how things worked. Within an hour after arriving myself and the other volunteer Rich felt right at home. We settled in and started working together right away and knew by the tour of the kitchen that we would not want for anything to provide healthy, wholesome and nutritious meals for the staff. The kitchen was fantastic and allowed us to not only be creative but also have fun with new receipts and learning to bake at altitude. We quickly learned that by providing this essential service it allowed the summit observers to focus on the tasks at hand which we could see involved not only weather observers but providing valuable information for the public about conditions on the mountain, teaching the craft of meteorology to the interns with invaluable hands on experience as well as interacting with the public.

 

Richard Briggs & Rich Atkins, Summit Volunteers