Let's hear it for a white Christmas. No, I am not implying that the snow is flying up here, just that it is nice to have it look like a normal winter in the mountains. Last year at this time it was pretty barren with valley temperatures in the 50's F. If you plan on being out and enjoying the mountain today you will be greeted with a chance of morning snow showers before clearing later. Winds will be decreasing to 30 to 45 mph later in the day which makes today a much better day to be above treeline than yesterday. Since Sunday's rain the Summit has picked up .8" of new snow. This .8" is the main stability issue to watch for today as it was blown into lee areas under strong W and WNW winds. That being said, the most you will find is an isolated pocket, particularly in the Lip. Most locations have the old, hard surface showing or very near the top buried by a thin layer of new snow. This hard icy surface will make you reach for your crampons and ice axe as soon as you hit angled terrain. Don't have these tools? I would advise you keep to the lower part of the mountain and stay out of steep terrain. If you are going out for a holiday ice climb, be thinking about encountering ice dams. Sunday's rain was followed by a rapid drop in temperatures. This may have caused ice dams to form that block water that is running behind the ice. This causes hydraulic pressure to build and will release in a variety of ways that can include an ice axe or ice screw.

Looking at the week ahead of us there are three systems that we are watching. The first is on Wednesday, the next on Friday and finally another on Sunday. At this time, there doesn't appear to be a large bounty of snow in store for us as the first two don't have much to offer for our neck of the woods and the last one is too far out to tell. Regardless, a chance of snow has popped up in the weather forecasts as a result of these. We will keep you posted if anything notable arises from these systems.

The John Sherburne Ski Trail is open with continuous snow from top to bottom. Expect hard icy conditions. THE LION HEAD WINTER ROUTE IS OPEN. This is a steep and challenging route for mountaineers. Crampons, an ice axe and the ability to properly use this equipment are recommended for safe travel on this route.