Vibe-Winter-2425 - Flipbook - Page 68
In addition to relying on a snow cat for weekly shift
change, Observatory staff host researchers, educators,
and mountain weather enthusiasts, throughout the
winter during visits to the summit.
electrical grid via the Cog Railway side.)
Despite the supplies, observers are aware that in many
ways, they’re just as isolated as hikers. The summit has a
helipad, but landings are not always possible, and any trip to
the base depends on weather conditions and an operator’s
ability to travel the 7-and-a-half miles to reach it. Last February,
Philippoff, and Tarasiewicz were on the mountain for a cold
snap when the Observatory tied its record low temperature of
-47 degrees—conditions that would quickly turn fatal outside
the Observatory doors.
“A lot of people have the misconception that we’re so close
to civilization that someone’s just going to come and rescue us,”
Knapp observes. “Just because there’s a road going up it, doesn’t
mean the cavalry’s going to come save you.”
HISTORY OF TRANSPORT
Despite the long history of weather observing on the mountain
going back to the first private expedition in 1870, snow cats are
a relatively new technology on Mount Washington. The Observatory didn’t purchase its first snow cat until 1979. That first tractor
came to the mountain from Cranmore, where it had been used to
groom ski trails.
In the early days, observers hiked up the mountain along
the Cog Railway tracks, according to Peter Crane, curator of the
Observatory’s Gladys Brooks Memorial Library. Until the completion of Fabyan Station in the 1870s, observers arrived at the base
in a sleigh from Littleton stocked with supplies. Later observers
would hike up via the Auto Road on the eastern side.
“The typical routine was to get material up the mountain in
the fall for the winter,” Crane says. “Any other material you were
going to bring up over the course of the winter, you’d either hike
up or ski up with it.”
By the 1950s, other entities—including military contractors
and WMTW—had established their own snow cat routes on the
mountain, and observers were able to hitch a ride. In the 60s
or 70s, Crane says, the Observatory briefly experimented with
snowmobiles, but the consensus was they were not well suited
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WiseguyCreative.com photo
for summiting.
Since 1979,
the Observatory
has owned a
series of four
snow cats, with
the current one
more than two
decades old.
The Observatory
has already secured $400,000
in congressional-directed funds to purchase a new PistenBully—the same
brand owned by Mount Washington State Park and the Auto
Road—to replace the white Bombardier, and hopes to have it on
the mountain later this year.
With government and research entities depending on the
Observatory’s daily weather observations, not to mention the
thousands who read the Higher Summits Forecast every week,
securing access to the summit is an essential role in the organization’s work. For operators like Powers—who says he prefers days
that “make you use your brain a little bit”—the challenge
of getting there safely is part of the appeal of the job. Even those
less keen on the road traveled agree the destination makes it
worth every bit.
“I just haven’t found anything that has that Venn diagram
of what Mount Washington has to offer,” Knapp says.
Mount Washington Observatory is a nonprofit institution with a mission
to advance understanding of the natural systems that create Earth’s
weather and climate. It serves this mission by maintaining a weather
station on the summit of Mount Washington, performing weather and
climate research, conducting innovative science education programs,
and interpreting the heritage of the Mount Washington region.
Get additional information at www.mountwashington.org.
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