LL Bean Commercial - Mount Washington

[Chris Exley]

It was so great 2 nights ago to see an LL Bean commercial featuring the Mount Washington Observatory. I don't know how many people down here in Pennsylvania that know of Mount Washington, but it made me smile.

They showed the Mountain under all kinds of snow, with a guy shoveling. Thank goodness he was wearing his LL Bean gear, because he was nice and warm.

I have never been on the mountain when it has snowed, and the one time I took the family to visit, there was a record high temp that day with no wind.

Can anyone share experiences of being on the Mountain when it was windy and snowy?

[Resident 2B]

Chris,

They have a great web site that addresses the weather on top of the "rock". There are outstanding descriptions of the weather from the crew of the weather station.

Here it is: http://www.mountwashington.org/weather/

I believe this will give you what you want.

Best regards,

R2B

[Rose]

Can anyone share experiences of being on the Mountain when it was windy and snowy?

When I was an undergrad meteorology student at UMass - Lowell we went for a tour of the weather observatory sometime in October. The weather was nice at the base, but the summit was cloudy. When we got up there, we encountered blowing ice. Winds were steady at 50 kts with gusts to 80. If we wanted to, we could each go stand on top of the turret. Our tour guide took my glasses because he said if I inadvertently turned my head 90 degrees from the wind direction, my glasses would get blown off my face :eek: . It was awesome!

The second best part was when we were touring the living facilities of the staff and our tour guide tried to hide the Playboy magazine before I could see it! :laugh:

Rose

[RI Swamp Yankee]

The TV spots may not be entirely filmed on Mt Washington

http://www.mountwashington.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1129#post1129

[Tallyho]

Can anyone share experiences of being on the Mountain when it was windy and snowy?

A friend of mine was hauling dirt up to the top of the mountain in a 10 wheel dump truck. When he raised the body, the wind picked up the front end and stood the truck on it's tailgate. He was out of the cab in a split second! The wind died down a bit, and the truck set back down without damage.

[Cal]

I saw the ad the other night myself ,Chris. It sure had me fooled. It looked like it to me. Of course that's the magic of TV:)

[Pineedles]

Starting at the foot of the mountain our party started it's ascent with a sunny sky, and temps in the high 70s. Flannel and wool were not the dress code for the day. A warm sun in the late morning invited climbers like us to fear sweat too much, rather than chill; we dressed appropriately in short sleeves and shorts. It was the Labor day; The end of summer, but hardly the beginnning of fall or for that matter winter. The ascent to the summit was quick and without incident. What happened as we descended thankfully did not cause any injury to our party, but -10F and 60 mph winds are alot different than the sunny sky we started off the climb with.

I will never climb a mountain again, even it is as small as Red Hill, without at least a change of warmer clothes, a flashlight, and some matches. That was over 20 years ago when I experienced the "change of seasons" on Mt. Washington, and I have never had a similar incident, mostly due to favorable weather, but I still carry my backpack.;)

[Belkin]

Saw this on the webcam last Sunday during the high winds. Notice the wind speed at the time. You can understand why he is not standing up. Not sure if he was just trying to get on the webcam. The webcam is updated every 15 mins and in the next frame he was gone. Hopefully he found his way back inside.

[flyguy]

For anyone who hasn't seen them, you may enjoy this collection of aerial photos of Mt. Washington in winter:

http://www.lakesregionaerials.com/washington/list0.html

more at

http://www.lakesregionaerials.com/North_country/list0.html

[GrandmaBig6]

Did anyone see the new LLBean commercial with the guy shoveling snow on the Mount Washington? It's a great commercial and it was good to see my second home state on the tube.

[Weirs guy]

Did anyone see the new LLBean commercial with the guy shoveling snow on the Mount Washington? It's a great commercial and it was good to see my second home state on the tube.

Caught it last night for the first time (was it on during the Pats game?). Very good, along with the window company that uses Mount Washington in their add with the baby chicks.

[Weekend Pundit]

I am a long time mmeber of the Obs and have spent a few winter weeks at the observatory as a volunteer. Let me tell you, it is an exhilarating and eerie experience. There are times when one feels like it is the last outpost on an otherwise deserted planet.

There have been times when I have tried to make the trip across the observation deck during high winds without being blown onto my keister. I haven't made it yet.

Probably the most interesting phenomenon I've witnessed is the formation of rime ice - the ice that forms into the wind as clouds pass pver the summit and the moisture freezes when it hits a cold surface. When it's windy enough and there's enough cloud cover you can actually see the ice growing as it accretes on the cold surfaces of buildings, vehicles, radio towers, and the Cog Railway track platforms.

Very cool!