caT openS SpiriT SancTUary Trail

“Above the Clouds,” taken by Jonathan Zaharek, a local landscape photographer and guide in the Adirondacks

By JONATHAN ZAHAREK Special to Embark

Despite the Adirondack High Peaks only having a max elevation 5000 feet, from time to time they still produce some of the most immaculate weather that you can find in this country. You would think with them being “short,” that they would have a hard time being above the clouds when in fact these mountains rise up above the earth higher than half of the Colorado 14er’s. Because of this, we find these mountains producing extraordinary weather systems.

In December 2020, we had a historic record of “inversions.” An inversion is when cold air, little to no wind, and high barometric pressure allow the clouds to settle well below the summits of these mountains. Out of ten days in a row, eight had this incredible weather phenomenon. Myself and many others were able to go up above the clouds on any given morning or evening to witness the spectacular show! Many people found themselves at Whiteface skiing under the sunlight at the summit chair.

I took advantage of one of my days off to venture up to the summit of Whiteface to watch the spectacular sunset above the clouds. Instead of trying to learn all the fancy weather data, Whiteface has a WebCam on its summit which is a great tool to know if the peaks are above the clouds or not. I think this should be a bucket list goal for any avid Adirondack hiker to witness.

You can find more of my work at www.jonathanzphotography.com 2022 calendars are also available with this image as well!

THIN ICE CAN BE FATAL

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