Alternate title: Winter in the Northeast
For all you southerners and west coast people, we have been having an average winter here in the Northeast. While many of our transmitter sites are drive-ups, we have several located at ski area mountain peaks. Technically, those mountain-top transmitter sites are a fantastic way to get the Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT) way up there. Logistically, they are much more difficult to deal with. Installing a new transmitter or even refueling a generator takes major effort. Working in the cold and wind is much more fatiguing and requires paying special attention to protective clothing, hydration, exposure, etc.
Here are a few pictures from Killington and Pico mountain ski areas in Vermont
The snow grooming machine is the only way to bring anything up to the top of the mountain during the wintertime. In this case, I needed to replace a BW Broadcast TX 1500-watt transmitter.
Even with the snow grooming machine, the last few hundred yards need to be walked. Fortunately, the snow is packed and not too deep here.
Tower is encrusted with ice. I can tell the tower climber is having a great day:
Riding the chair lift back down the mountain gets plenty of strange looks from those skiers coming up:
Over on Killington Peak, conditions are actually worse.
The ERI antenna heaters cannot keep up with the ice buildup.
The general manager insists that this winter is not too bad and everything should be working right. My statement to her: Based on my 27 years of experience, your shit is fucked up. But if you know how to fix this, come on up and show me. She deferred.
What the fire tower looked like last winter.
