Open letter to Competitors from Mike Pelchat, Park Manager

Mount Washington State Park is one of 72 park properties managed by the NH Division of Parks & Recreation. The Mount Washington Auto Road and Cog Railway are private enterprises that terminate at the 59 acre Mount Washington State Park. These businesses operate on private lands within the White Mountain National Forest. The concrete and glass Sherman Adams Summit Building is the center of park operations on the summit. Public areas within the building contains seating for 120 in a cafeteria style dining room, information desk, pay phones, weather museum, 12 seat hiker's packroom, post office, restrooms, and Food Service/Gift Shop. The Food Service is open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., weather permitting. Packaged snacks, basic beverages, and candy bars are available, with a limited selection of hot foods and sandwiches.

While competitors dominate the traffic of the Mt.Washington Auto Road on race day, the Sherman Adams Summit Building continues to provide shelter and services to riders of the Mt. Washington Cog Railway and hundreds of hikers at the same time. Race contestants and race spectators should remain respectful that they are sharing the summit facilities with these other visitors who also worked physically hard hiking or paid their fare to reach the summit.

Due to the limited amount of space in the summit building, competitors are strongly urged to make their visit into the summit building as short as possible. With good pre-planning by every competitor, race day on the summit should be a rewarding experience for everyone. To help ease the congestion in the Summit Building, please observe the following suggestions:

1) Meet your ride and retrieve clothing supplies in one of the three auto road summit parking lots. Arrange a rendezvous location before leaving the base, with a back-up meeting location plan.

2) Use the provided outdoor porta toilets.

3) Leave your bike in the "Bike Corral" if visiting the summit building. No bikes allowed in the summit building. Volunteers will be on hand to help.

4) Keep clear of all building exits and doorways.

5) If needed, see any race official (in pink vests) to locate volunteer first aid help.

6) Limit your stay within the summit building to 30 minutes or less.

NOTE: When the number of visitors in the summit building has reached its maximum 250 person capacity, park staff will only allow people to enter as others leave. If the weather is cool, windy or stormy, the impact that race competitors have on the limited summit facilities is much greater than on mild weather days. Proper pre-planning along with excellent physical conditioning will go a long way towards having a wonderful racing experience on Mount Washington no matter what the weather.

Good Luck with Your `Run' and 'Bike Race'!

For more information, please contact: Mike Pelchat, Manager, by mail at: MWSP, PO Box D, Gorham, NH 03581; by telephone at 603-466-3347, or by e-mail at [email protected]