Week Two on the Mountain

This week, Ryan was sick. There were just the three of us, with Brian and Mike doing 12-12 shifts. Fortunately, the volunteers were really cool this week - Marion and Al Lake cooked, cleaned, and entertained us all week. They even let me try to make some alfredo sauce and guacamole (lesson learned: confirm recipe with mother before attempting guac).


Rime ice forming on the window of the weather room, looking NE.

I think that I've figured out a research project: Georgia Murray of the Appalachian Mountain Club has been working on a publication about fine particulate matter in the White Mountains, and would like me to help with running computer models on the data. More on that in the coming weeks....

Marion in the freezing fog, looking E toward the Stage Office

Rime ice on the rocks


Up to the tower --there are a couple flights of stairs like this going up to the top from the living space and weather room.


Al flying in the wind atop the tower. Also pictured are the pitot (wind speed and direction) and the wind vane (just wind direction).


Marty and his snake tunnel --he loves it when you drag him around in it. Sometimes. He's one of those cats. Awfully sweet when you have food!


Marion waving from the living room area. That's the library and entertainment system behind her, with the bunk rooms to the right of the picture on the wall facing the books. The kitchen is just to the left here.


Shepherd's Pie! Sink up there to the left, pantry to the right.


They let me help make alfredo! I put WAY too much cheese in there, but Mike opted for a high fat diet this week and helped us finish it off. I think Gus, one of the cat drivers, also made a significant dent in it. Quite literally, too --the stuff was the consistency of very cold butter. Yikes.


GO STEELERS! Mike, me, and Brian on the couch on the state park side of the building. We watched the first half of the game in here, then the cable went out. The obs doesn't have cable at the moment, so we ended up watching the rest upstairs on the computer. The chili bowls that Al and Marion made were tremendous, though!


A nice morning in the weather room.


Mike, me, and Marion in the weather room. The computer here is the one that the observers use most of the time. To the right of me is the communications equipment --the polycom that they use to do tutorials of the weather wall with people at the discovery center in the valley, etc. The weather wall is behind Marion here. It's got all of the barometers, anemometer readings, thermograph, and much more. To the left of me is the room where I usually work --there are two computers that are for interns and such. All the paper records are kept in there, too, and there's also an adjoined observer office where the audio recordings of the 36 hour outlook are made.



For some reason, our shift has been getting all of the edutrips --we had three this week. This particular day, there happened to also be a good group of hikers who'd reached the top getting a drink and resting for a few minutes in the main entrance. Hikers aren't really allowed in the building during the winter unless it's an emergency or they know someone inside and have prearranged a visit. It's supposedly not good to rest too much when you get to the top anyhow since your body needs to keep trucking in order to stay warm and moving. The guy in red toward the right is Mike.

On the way down, Al and I decided that we would hike the auto road rather than riding in the cat. We convinced the boss (surprisingly easily) that it was a good idea since I really didn't know the area very well --you can't see much of anything from the cat while going up or down. Check out these pictures! It's quite beautiful. The day was perfect for it, with the base at somewhere around 20F.


Learning to use the crampons --those spikey things on my feet. This ice is super slick without them. Behind me is the Tip Top House, the oldest existing building on the summit.


Looking back up the observatory (our part is on the far right --the rest is the State Park and visitor center).


Right behind me are Mt. Adams and Mt. Madison from left to right. The snow that we were walking on was about 4-5 feet deep, we think. We wore crampons, which he showed me how to use the day before. Quite the amazing gadgets.


I was trying to make it look like I was falling off, but unsuccessfully apparently. Behind me is Mt. Jefferson and the Great Gulf.


Looking ENE toward Crawford Notch, just before the East Snow Fields where I watched Mike snowboard my first week.


An AMAZING cloud!! Look at the definition.


Going down, down, down - the mountain to the right is Madison. The line going down it, I think, is the Madison Gulf Trail, leading into the Great Gulf. The whole edge there was ploughed by two of the cats this week in not-so-nice weather. Pretty incredible what they can do --the edutrippers were in the cat for 5-6 hours.


This is the first of the temperature gauges along the auto road that we saw. We think it's around 4400 feet.


Here's the one somewhere around 3200 feet...


...There are so many good references to the Christmas Story on this mountain.


We made it ALL the way down without the snow cat catching up to us! The crew had a long meeting with L.L. Bean reps and other agenda items this week, but it was still a victory for Al and I.


Check out those crampons!


Finally to the base. This is the building where the cats live and get worked on. There's also a conference room, shower, and some extra space that Al thinks could be used more....


We got a new cat this week --it has a dvd player, among other things. I didn't get to ride in it this week, but soon! The old one has been kept in really nice shape, but this one's a bit more secure and a lot more comfortable. It also technically seats more people.


Looking back up, from the base building. That might be one of the crags rather than the mountain itself, but you get the idea! It's way up there.

Today I also found out that I've been recommended by the Department of Chemistry to be accepted at Portland State, with a very nice tuition-paid teaching assistantship!!!

I just got back from a really amazing concert: a bluegrass concert at the Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownsfield, Maine. The Del McCoury Band, as recommended by Mike (one of the observers who plays a mean harmonica), was fantastic!! The fiddler and mandolin player were SO fast and all of them were so together! A really incredible show and good company.