360 Virtual panorama of the 'Spectre of the Brocken' on Whiteface Mtn.


I've felt quite fortunate to be able to view the 'Spectre of the Brocken' on several occasions. The first time was also on Whiteface on a morning I had gone up early to photograph the view of the High Peaks and Lake Placid area. After the sun was up a bit, the fog started moving from the valley up the western slope of Whiteface. I was walking back toward the stairs and had gone out onto a ledge for a last look, when I noticed my shadow seemingly going on forever into the rising mist - and around my shadow appeared a faint circular rainbow. Then just as quickly as it appeared, it dissapeared into the mist.

I stayed on the ledge, waiting for the next gentle cloud to form and rise up the slope of the mountain, and again saw the 'spectre'. I managed to photograph the phenomena, but the results just never quite match the feeling of depth of the shadow and rainbow when you're there. Another time my daughter and I had skiied up the toll road, and were both on the summit with the clouds breaking in the late afternoon, and again saw the 'spectre' - also know as Ulloa's Rings.

On this occasion, in late October 1998, when I had biked up with my son, I had my Roundshot camera and was able to photograph the full 360 view from the summit. The setting sun gilded the clouds forming over the summit to the west with a warm golden glow, while the darker shadow of the mountain summit fell off to the east like a ghostly apparition on the clouds with beautiful colored rings of light surrounding our own shadows on the receding mist.

Return to Top
Home Page with Menu Bar

Written permission is required to use any image or text from this site except where noted. Please see our copyright page.
All articles, images and page content are copyrighted © Carl E. Heilman II / Wild Visions, Inc. All rights reserved.