Bringing Printing Back Among the Clouds

For more than a century, postcards from the summit of Mount Washington carried something special back down the mountain. They were not just souvenirs. They were proof. Proof you made it. Proof you stood above the trees, above the weather, above the everyday world, if only for a moment, and sent a message from a place that felt almost unreal.

Stamped Among the Clouds, those cards traveled far beyond the White Mountains, carrying thin air, high winds and the romance of the summit into homes across the country.

Mount Washington still has a seasonal post office at the summit. When it is open, postcards can still be written at 6,288 feet and mailed directly from the roof of New England. The act itself remains part of the experience. Pause, sit, write and send something tangible back into the world.

Over time, that ritual faded for many visitors. Phones replaced handwriting. Photos stayed trapped on screens. “I was here” became something you scrolled past instead of something you held. This project is about bringing that ritual back into focus.

Why Physical Postcards Still Matter

A postcard slows you down. You do not just snap, you choose. You do not just post, you write. You do not just upload, you send. A postcard has weight, texture and a timestamp. It can sit on a refrigerator for years or resurface decades later in a shoebox.

Mount Washington deserves that kind of memory. The summit is not just a viewpoint. It is a historic communications place. Telegraph lines, weather instruments, radio experiments, postcards and payphones all came before us. The mountain has always been about connecting people across distance. Among the Clouds was not branding. It was literal.

Why the Canon SELPHY CP1500

To bring summit postcards back, printing must be portable, reliable in cold conditions, ink free, fast and consistent. The Canon SELPHY CP1500 meets those needs.

The printer uses dye sublimation, not liquid ink. There is nothing to freeze, nothing to clog and nothing to smear. Each print is sealed with a protective overcoat, making the postcard water resistant, fingerprint resistant and durable. That matters on a summit where wind, snow and rime ice are part of the environment.

The CP1500 produces true photographic 4 by 6 postcards, the same size used for generations, and it is compact enough to carry. This is not a novelty printer. It is a modern version of a very old idea.

The Vision

The idea is simple. You reach the summit. You choose a photo taken that day. It prints right there among the clouds. Not later. Not back at the hotel. Not after the moment has passed. The postcard becomes part of the climb itself.

Some cards may be mailed immediately when the summit post office is open. Others may be carried down and sent later, still marked by where they were born. Each one becomes a physical artifact of altitude.

Preparing for 2027

In 2027, Burt’s Among the Clouds, the Mount Washington summit newspaper, reaches its 150th anniversary.

For generations, the paper documented daily life on the summit, the weather, the people and the moments that passed through the mountain. This effort is about preparing, reseating and testing what it means to create physical media at altitude again.

Each trip is a rehearsal. Each printed postcard is a test of process, durability and intention. The goal is not to rush, but to understand what works in wind, cold and isolation so that when the anniversary arrives, the system is ready.

February 2 to 4

This winter will be part of that testing.

On February 2 and 3, I will bring the printer to the viewpoint in York, Maine, for a vow renewal overlooking the Atlantic. A postcard printed there marks the beginning of the journey, grounding the project at sea level before it moves north.

On February 3, the printer will travel to the Glen House, at the base of Mount Washington, as part of our anniversary stay. Another postcard printed there marks the threshold between everyday life and the mountain.

On February 4, if conditions allow, I plan to bring the printer aboard the SnowCoach and print a postcard at 4,200 feet on the Mount Washington Auto Road, surrounded by winter, wind and snow.

These are not souvenirs for sale and not staged moments. They are quiet tests. Simple acts of making something physical in places where time, weather and meaning intersect.

Alton Weagle Day

I also plan to bring the printer with me on Alton Weagle Day, May 23, traveling up the Mount Washington Auto Road.

With any luck, the summit post office will be open that day. If it is, a postcard printed on the mountain can be written and mailed directly from the summit itself, continuing a tradition that still quietly exists.

Alton Weagle spent his life documenting this mountain, preserving moments and names so they would not be lost to time. Carrying a printer back to the summit on that day connects past and present in a simple, tangible way.

Among the clouds, even in February.