Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1871-01-25
Mount Washington in Winter

liz is well known to our readers that q
party Of scientific gentlemen are spending
the winter on Mount Washington, using the
depot building for their dwelling place.
This building has been made as thoroughly
comfortable was possible, and is amply
proyisioncd. Communication with the world
- down below " is made by Geographic
wire, and daily written reports up there are
sent 70 the papers \ few hardy visitors
have found the way to this party Of gentle
men during the winter, stopping with them
few days and then descending again. These
ascents and descents are made with great
difficulty, and no small peril. The party on
the mountain are not free from considerable
danger. The thermometer one night IN their
house, with two fires, the best they could
furnish, stood at only nineteen above zero ,
it being very cold with considerable wind
Not many days ago, the wind reached the
rate Of one hundred miles an hour. and al
though their house is chained down, it
swayed to the extent Of six inches, and 20
alarmed were they that they had their saws
and axes in hand 10 cut their way out Of the
ruins, if necessary. When they wish to
register the rate Of the wind, one Of the
party creeps out Of the warm quarters and
stands brdced against barrels Of water frozen
solid, also solid with the ground. where,
with instruments in hand he remains five
minutes and then returns, or l. dragged in
covered with ice from head to foot, the in
struments being self-recording beneath their
covering Of the frozen moisture Of the air
This moisture IN the air at d low tempcra-
ture and high wind from the north, freezes
in icicles, which point horizontally towards
the wind and sometimes reach one and one
half and two feet in length. The same mois
ture coming from the south freezes in masses
a recent letter gives an interesting descrip-
ton Of the &" frost work . which we copy
below
The q frost work - is one Of tie most re
markable phenomenon of this high altitude
As few have ever seen it, and none have at.
tempted to describe it, and as the cause,
that produce it are but imperfectly under
stood, we shall perhaps be pardoned if We
present some rather crude ideas in regard t
II. 1t is difficult also TO convey in words
any idea OF its wonderful form and beauty
From the study given to 1t last winter, anC
the opportunities we have had of observing
its formation this, we are able To give what
seems to us plausible, if not a correct theory
to account for this, the most plastic of al
the handiwork of nature. At our very first
observation we see that 1t forms only when
the wind Is nOrthward, i. e. at some point
between north and west or north and east
and never when the wind is southwark. Il
begins with mere points, on every thing tie
wind reaches, on the rocks, on the snow, on
the railway and on every part Of the build
lngs, even on the glass. On the south side
1t Is very slight, 40 the wind reaches Their,
only in eddyIng gusts. When the surface j!
rough, the points, as they begin, are an incl
or more apart when smooth it almost en-
tirely covers the surface at the very begin
ming, but soon only few points elongate
SO, on wha tever surface it begins TO form, i
has very soon the same general appearance
| presenting everywhere the same beautiful
ieathery-lIke forms In going up the noun
tain we do not see it until we get some dis
lance above the limit of the trees it il
nearly mile before it is seen in its charac
tcristic forms, and it is only immediatel,
. about the summit that it presents its mos
attractive features We notice also that i
always forms towards the wind, never from
: the great length of the horizontal masses il
truly wonderful. We placed round stick
an inch in diameter, in vertical position
where 1t was exposed to the full force of tn,
I wind, and in less than two days some of the
r horizontal lclcles-we call them icicles fo
the want of a more appropriate name-wer,
two feet in length and scarcely any thicker
than the stick itself. They formed on ever,
s part OF the stick that was exposed, but 0
, course some points were much longer thar
others. They remained several days, bu
with change of wind they were blown off
On some of the piles of stones south of tn,
2 house, these horizontal masses are now more
than five feet in length. On the southern
exposures, instead of the :" frost work ,
there are only masses of pure ice, which
have always peculiar hue of greenish blue
In the early part of December, when The
thermometer ranged from % to 2o@ and
the wind was southwark, the ice formed "a
the thickness of a foot or more on the tele.
graph poles near the house These lev
masses arc formed evidently by the condens