I’ve been up the Rockpile many times and it never ceases to amaze me how violently different the weather can be at altitude. I’ve started out at the base on cloudy, cool early summer days and encountered such ferocious winds and squalls upon passing the treeline that you’d think you were on another planet. The Observatory is quite impressive and they have a nice gift shop. One of the things you notice while inside (other than you’re no longer being buffeted by the wind) is the thickness of the glass around the building, necessitated by the power of nature outside.
When I was there in the summer, there were some guys working on the instrumentation on the roof, speaking German. I assume they were either Swiss or Austrian. Funny that they didn’t speak Swiss or Austrian, though.