Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Altitude JEOPARDY

I got it! I got it! I got it! - the Starbucks workers at the Smithsonian hut on Whitney!

Tallest, not highest.

You're getting really warm . . .

Nope, not Mauna Kea. The elevation in the question is no trick - 14,000-plus ft above sea level.

And here I was thinking the Observatory could be 204 feet tall.

I am stumped...spent my lunch hour trying to figure this out...I keep thinking it has something to do with the weather service. Am ?patiently? waiting to see the answer!!!

My guess would be the Pikes Peak summit shop crew.

There is a building at the end of the road on top of Pikes Peak... I can't find a Street View.

hiker00, I promise you that when the answer appears, many people will give their foreheads that good old "I could'a had a V-8!" slap.

Let's review:

(1) This group of 25 people (it varies throught the year) are consistently above 14K' for much of any given year. With my hint of thousands of hours per year spent by this group at that elevation, it is clearly their occupation.

(2) Every moment of that time is spent in the USA.

(3) There are a finite number of places in the USA that are above 14,000 feet.

(4) It is not a trick question - just one that requires a slight mental shift.

(5) wagga almost had it.

We have a winner! Welcome to the board marmoting!

14,110 feet as your workplace 8 hours a day, mostly year-round. A huge gift shop, tram ticket office and cafe, all rolled up in one pretty good sized "hut". Someone beat that!

Ernie (CMC2) was the person I wanted to hold off answering. He lives in Colorado Springs, in the shadow of Pikes Peak.

Hmmm...is there a partner in Chile?

Why yes, I do believe they serve chili at the PP summit cafe . . .

Hey, wait! What about the Keck Observatory on the Big Island in Hawaii?

Here's the job posting I quoted.

There's no Fourteener on Hawaii. Mauna Kea is the highest point at @ 13,800. Don't know where they get 14K', unless they're rounding. The only Fourteeners are in Alaska, Colorado, Washington and California.

Well, their "rounding" fooled me! They do kick that rounded number around a few places.

When you posted the job requirements, I thought you may have it. The one thing that didn't fit was the driver's license requirement. I think most Pikes Peak summit staff take the cog railway up and down the mountain.

General Aviation pilots in unpressurized aircraft are required by the FAA to use oxygen above approx. 12,000 feet.

At Pikes Peak, workers, climbers, runners and even race car drivers do without.

The "leader" I spoke with was the gift shop/cafe complex manager. I believe the management company is Aramark, similar to national park operations. I was asking him if they required applicants to undergo any type of high altitude tolerance screening, and he said they did not. Since most folks that live in Colorado Springs are at approximately 7000 feet, and often spend time at higher elevations, it was not a pre-employment requirement. He did say, however, that about one in five hires found in the first week that they could not tolerate working at 14K' and quit their job.

He also told me that even seasoned staff were occasionally hit with symptoms of AMS while at work, especially after returning from any extended time off (makes sense - acclimation generally dissipates after a couple of weeks). He said that there was rarely a week that went by in which he didn't have to deal with at least one employee altitude issue - especially if someone came to work after a night of hard drinking.

The customers are another matter entirely - people-watching on Pikes Peak is one helluva spectator sport. There's a lot of stumbling around and holding on to things as people get back on their feet at 14,110' after riding or driving up from 7000'. Many get off the cog railway excited and eager - an hour later they look like they can't wait for the tram to get them off the damn mountain! Pikes Peak is a study in the negative effects of 14K' being too easily accessible to the general public. My wife re-christened the mountain as "Pikes Puke".

AND ABOVE ONLY 5,000 ft at night !!!

The retina is very sensitive to lower O2 pressure. Because color vision at night begins to deteriorate above just 5,000 ft, the FAA recommends general aviation pilots in non-pressurized aircraft use O2. Most do not.

I once had an arguement with an old pilot in the front row when I was giving a medical talk about hypoxia. He stated that he never had a problem landing at night at his usual place. That's the problem, add a new situation, like new runway, odd lighting around the airport, bad weather, etc, and it might not be so easy. I could not get him to stop badgering me during my talk, so I finally resorted to the line from Top Gun, where Charlie ( Kelli McGinnis) tells Maverick (Tom Cruise), "The Pentagon sees to it that I know more than you."
Brought the house down.

Ahem.

The Visitor Center
The Summit House
The Research Center

Enter "summit house, visitor center, research center" into google, and the first entry is "drive to the summit of Pike's Peak"