Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Lightning and the Smithsonian Hut

Recently, a vigorous thread here dealing with lightning and the Smithsonian Hut was deleted in its entirety. Perhaps it was overly vigorous. Nevertheless, it dealt with a subject of perennial interest. After letting things cool a bit, I have posted a lengthy discussion (or at least a monologue)on the subject. (Did I mention that it was long?)

Several of us are interested in learning about experiences of people who have weathered lightning storms in either the building on the summit of White Mountain or in the Smithsonian Hut on Mt. Whitney (post here).

I have tried to contact people who maintain the White Mountain Summit Lab web site and inquire about any experiences that any of their people may have had with lightning while working at the summit. So far no responses.

The summit lab has cooking facilities, four beds and electricity from solar panels. It seems likely that over the years scientists have been there during a lightning storm.

White Mountain Summit Laboratory site, showing pictures both inside and out: http://tinyurl.com/29cruz

If I find out anything I will post it.

What surprises me a bit in those pics is the metal-framed bunk beds. I recall visiting a fire lookout tower and seeing glass insulators (like from telephone poles) on the bottoms of their stool to insulate the stool from the floor. (But I'm not an expert and don't play one on TV.)