After seeing Scott's post, I figured I'd repost these pics from a few years back of Surveying on Mt. Washington, the highest point in the Northeast. There is a Cog Railway and Auto road, so it can be a zoo on the summit, but still a fun place to work.
Nice duty Perry. What's the story on that little puffer billy?
Nice pictures. I heard it can get windy up there.
Nice work....So which one are you, the I-man or the rod man?
Mount Washiington Cog Railway
The railway was built by Sylvester marsh (finished to the summit in 1869) and is still operating today.
The Mount Washington Cog Railway is the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway). The railway is still in operation, climbing Mount Washington in New Hampshire, USA. It uses a Marsh rack system and one or two steam locomotives and four biodiesel powered locomotives to carry tourists to the top of the mountain.
It is the second steepest rack railway in the world,[2] with an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of 37.41%. The railway is approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) long and ascends Mt. Washington's western slope beginning at an elevation of approximately 2,700 feet (820 m) above sea level and ending just short of the mountain's summit peak of 6,288 feet (1,917 m). The train ascends the mountain at 2.8 miles per hour (4.5 km/h) and descends at 4.6 mph (7.4 km/h). It takes approximately 65 minutes to ascend and 40 minutes to descend although the diesel can go up in as little as 37 minutes.
I's the I-man. We were shooting up the area for modifications to the Aboveground Tank system.
Nice pix . . what's the story behind the cross just around the EC on the track. Fatal accident perhaps?
Story of the White Cross for Peter
The white cross near the cog railway tracks is the Lizzy Bourne Monument. She was in her early 20's and attempted to hike the summit in 1855, but died within sight of the Tip Top house at the summit from Hypothermia.
The vast majority of the quarter million people who visit the summit each year experience no problems whatsoever. Yet each year several "close calls" accentuate the dangers of the mountain. More than 135 fatalities have occurred on and around Mount Washington since 1849, many of them involving ill-prepared hikers, skiers and climbers. There is no room for poor judgement and carelessness in this unforgiving mountain environment.
At 6,288 feet, Mount Washington claims the title of the Northeast's highest peak. While its height may not be especially impressive by global standards, Mount Washington rates as anything but an ordinary mountain. For one, its climate is similar to that of Northern Labrador, hundreds of miles further north. Three major storm tracks converge over the mountain, forming harsh and turbulent weather conditions. Above treeline, alpine conditions prevail and only the hardiest plants and animals survive. The combination of the extreme wind, fog, wet and cold have dubbed Mount Washington "Home of World's Worst Weather".
Story of the White Cross for Peter
Perry-
Alexandra and I travelled up the cog railway a number of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.
It was a new experience to have such a temperature change starting in shirtsleeves and ending in winter coat.
Cheers,
Derek
Story of the White Cross for Peter
A sad tale indeed . . It's certainly hard to imagine, for someone who has never been there, that the temperatures could become so extreme to cause hypothermia in September, though I note there's a chance her underlying heart condition could've been a contributing factor.
Thanks,
Peter