This all-new, updated, expanded edition of Life at the Top brings the tall tales and wild weather adventures of the Mount Washington Observatory into the 21st century. New photos, new weather jokes, and new chapters introduce readers to hapless hikers, mischievous meteorologists and summit cats Marty and Nin. (Nin was just a rookie when the first edition of Life at the Top was published back in 1997, and Marty hadn't been born yet.)

A new chapter titled "Life at the Bottom" explores the Mount Washington-South Pole connection, with interviews with Mount Washington Observatory crew who have gone on to work in Antarctica. How do Mount Washington and Antarctica compare?

New Hampshire’s Mount Washington is known as the Home of the World’s Worst Weather. Mount Washington is also the home of a meteorological observatory, so we have the records to prove just how bad the weather is atop the Rockpile.

A handful of hardy souls lives at the Observatory year-round. Do they have to be just a bit unusual to seek out such a career? Perhaps. But the Observatory crew find much to enjoy in their icy home—even when it means dealing with hundred-mile-per-hour winds, wandering moose, and odd questions from visitors (“Can you see New Hampshire from here?”).

In Life at the Top, weather observer Eric Pinder describes the joys and terrors of living in the clouds and explains Mount Washington’s geology and weather. The last section of the book is a one-of-a-kind cookbook made up of recipes contributed by the Observatory staff—favorite dishes from people who take their meals seriously (especially in winter, when the food becomes spicier as the temperature grows colder).