Skiing above the clouds in Vermont!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 at 03:41 PM

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Riding through the clouds on the Madonna I chairlift.

At the summit, the sun shone brightly over a giant layer of clouds.

Only tall peaks such as Mt. Mansfield poked out of the clouds.

Looking to the east, a sea of clouds.

Low visibility on upper FIS.

Skiing through the clouds at Smugglers' Notch.

The top of Madonna Mountain was above the clouds.

Skiing down the Chilcoot trail.

Making turns in Red Fox Glades.

I enjoyed the rare treat of skiing above the clouds today. This doesn't happen too often in Vermont. It is very impressive!

We arrived at Smugglers' Notch for a morning of some skiing and thought it was going to be a cloudy day. The weather report had called for partly sunny skies, but it didn't look like it from the base lodge.

About two-thirds of the way up the Madonna I chair, the sun started breaking through the foggy clouds. We broke through to bright sunshine and we could look down over an enormous bank of clouds!

I believe this was due to a temperature inversion, and it was a beautiful sight! From the top of the 3,640-foot Madonna Mountain, only the summits of the highest peaks in the area were in view. They included Mt. Mansfield and Camel's Hump and Jay Peak in the distance.

It was strange to ski down from the sunny summit into the clouds, and then back into the overcast base area. At some times the visibility was tough.

The skiing was quite good this morning with about two inches of new snow under foot. The groomed trails were terrific; they had better coverage than on Saturday.

We hit only two short glades -- Red Fox Glades and lower Doc Dempsey's Glades. They were both good. Lower Red Fox got funky, however, with lumpy, hard-packed snow under the new snow. Today was a day for groomers.

Enjoy the photos of today's skiing above the clouds, courtesy of the Skimeister.

Filed in: Alpine / downhill skiing, Smugglers' Notch, Spring skiing