Goofers | Lexicon

When tourists reach the summit of Mount Washington, they will invariably look around and ask questions of the people who work there. Some of these tourists have been given a name by the summit workers. They are called goofers. And from their questions you can see why.

• This is my first trip to Mount Washington. What am I supposed to do now?
• Do you have any hair dryers up here?
• I just took a picture outside. Could you tell me what I took a picture of?
• Did they start building the road from the bottom or the top?
• Are we higher than the sky?
• Are the brooks out there fresh or salt water?
• At what time will this fog clear?
• Tell me, who would want to come up here in weather like this?
• I lost my wife. Do you have any suggestions?

–courtesy of the Mount Washington Observatory Excerpt from “The Sampler,” Yankee Magazine, September 1994.

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