Huntington Ravine has Moderate and Low avalanche danger today. Central, South, and Odell Gullies have Moderate avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are unlikely and human triggered avalanches are possible. Use caution in steep terrain. All other areas have Low avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are very unlikely and human triggered avalanches are unlikely except in isolated pockets.

Looks like today will be the day to get outdoors and enjoy a little sunshine and snowy fun. Later tonight things will begin to get ugly, but before we get into that discussion we should talk about the current stability issues. Today's weather is looking rather good, especially by Mt. Washington's standards. Temperatures will be relatively warm and winds on the lighter side of what we normally get up here. Today's avalanche ratings reflect the current conditions, since nothing in the forecast will increase instability until later tonight. Yesterday's winds were slightly lower than we expected, and the effect was that the wind loading we thought we'd see all day quieted down pretty early. Some loading was able to take place throughout the day, most notably in the Lip and Headwall and in the top of Hillman's. At times yesterday I found myself entranced by the hypnotic effect of snow cascading down over the Headwall ice. The new loading has deposited on a variety of surfaces, including unconsolidated new snow, exposed old surface, and slabs that have developed over the past week. So what we're left with today is a familiar concept: spatial variability. Essentially this means that conditions can vary greatly from one spot to another. It's a very common phenomenon here, and it's why we always encourage people to avoid basing their travel decisions on the findings from a single snow pit. Today if you were to dig a pit under the ice in the Headwall or up in the Lip, you'd probably find some pretty sensitive snow, and you might be wondering why you chose to go looking for dragons right inside the dragon's lair. Just to be clear, these areas the areas of greatest concern today. In other locations, such as down low in Hillman's or parts of Left Gully, you might find yourself wondering how to not break your shovel blade in the old crust. These examples represent both ends of the spectrum we have here today, but remember that a wide range of conditions can exist within a Moderate rating. It's always important to keep your eyes open to changing conditions. Another piece of advice I feel compelled to give today is to not blindly follow the tracks of others without making your own stability assessments. There are a lot of tracks out there, both old and new, and you generally won't know what conditions were like when the track was set, nor do you know how (in)experienced and (un)trained the person was who set the track.

Huntington Ravine has a mix of Moderate and Low conditions today. In the areas posted at Moderate there are routefinding options that will help you avoid trouble. Areas posted at Low do have isolated pockets of slab to be aware of and you should opt to find ways around them rather than through them.

As for the incoming weather, it looks like we're going to get some warm air aloft. For us this means rain starts things off. Our avalanche cookbook has one recipe that calls for warm rain on cold slabs. I think we'll have all the ingredients we need for this upcoming system to produce some tasty avalanches. Expect danger to increase when precipitation starts tonight, and expect tomorrow's avalanche danger ratings to be elevated as well.

We always recommend bringing crampons and an ice axe and having solid self arrest skills if you plan on traveling in steep terrain, including the Lion Head Winter Route. Under the blanket of new snow many areas have large expanses of bulletproof old surface. We have had three recent accidents due to sliding falls that went unarrested on the old surface. The Sherburne Ski Trail is open with good coverage from top to bottom.