It's riveting from the moment you get to basecamp...A truck with full chains can only get us about a quarter of the way there in the snow... Then we sardines flop out...and load up the gear onto the real machine...the snow-cat that gets us to the top ... Once at the summit the work of the observatory staff immediately begins...

(Jon cotton: ...What we do...is we take hourly weather observations...But there's a lot more behind that...and that is maintaining the equipment...updating the website...deicing...shoveling...)

...It's silly to think about it here...but one of the hardest things to do is figure out if it's actually snowing...In a constant barage the equipment struggles to keep up...

(Neil Lareau:...The best case scenario is that they are just encased in ice...The worst case scenario is that they're broken, and parts of them are blown off...Never to be seen again from the top of the mountain...)

(Jon Cotton...How do we de-ice them?...Well the top of the tower has a metal ring around it called the parapit...And you can cause vibrations on it...Which usually gets the ice off of it...So we hit it with a crowbar...)

The weather-station is just part of what goes on all year long on the summit...

(Mike Pelchat...[We] check all the equipment...check for damage...check for hikers that may have broken in or stranded themselves...Mount washington is an economic force for the area...and the largest tourist attraction for the state...)

...The ride back down to basecamp was bittersweet to be sure... But it's tough to match experiencing the worst weather in the world from the highest point in the northeast...and appreciating the work of those that endure it everyday.