Huntington Ravine has LOW avalanche danger today. Natural avalanches are very unlikely and human triggered avalanches are unlikely except in isolated pockets. Normal caution is advised.

If you head into avalanche terrain today, the most important thing to pay attention to in relation to snow stability is the amount of new snow that accumulates today from upslope snow showers. Any new snow accumulation may increase the avalanche danger because today's winds are ideal for blowing new snow into avalanche terrain. The winds on the summit are forecasted to be out of the WNW 45-60 mph (72-97 kph) and increase to 60-80 mph (97 to 129 kph) with higher gusts. Upslope snow showers are forecasted but moisture is limited so we aren't expecting much in the way of accumulation today. As we have seen many times in the past, upslope snow is difficult to forecast for so it is worth a heads up for anyone heading into avalanche terrain.

Current stability in Tuckerman and Huntington Ravine is good with the exception of some pockets of windslab that are still raising some concern. The most significant of these pockets can be found on the northern side of Tuckerman Ravine in the Lip, Sluice and Right Gully. Do you remember the weekend of December 27 and 28? Sorry to bring up bad memories, but that is the one that brought rain and temperatures above 50 F (10 C) to the mountain. After that weekend, the saturated snowpack re-froze and created a very stable snowpack that still exists on the surface in most locations. This icy mass is a good starting point to work from when contemplating snow stability. While you may find some interesting faceting below this layer, the tensile strength is allowing us to focus on anything that sits above it and spare our shovels from the trauma of trying to hack through this layer. Since that weekend, snowfall has been sparse and winds have been strong. So far, not a lot of snow has been able to stick to the old surface due numerous days of winds exceeding 100 mph (161 kph) on the summit. The wind slabs that do exist in avalanche terrain are trying to bond with an icy surface which should raise your concern about the ability of these layers to adhere to one another. You can easily avoid these areas of new slab with good route finding. In order to travel safely in steep terrain you will need crampons an ice axe and solid mountaineering skills. It would be appropriate to look at steep snow climbs as ice climbs in terms of technical difficulty. That may be a slight overstatement but paints the picture for you.

The week ahead of us will provide some hope for turning conditions around. Enhanced upslope flow overnight is in the forecast and we will be watching that. A storm is lining up for Wednesday that could be all snow or mixed precipitation depending on the track (sound familiar?). Models are hinting at the possibility of a good one for Sunday.

The Lion Head Winter Route is open. Mountaineering skills and equipment are required to safely travel on this route. The John Sherburne Ski Trail is open and challenging. Expect a dusting of snow covering "New England Packed Powder" along with some turf and rocks.