Huntington Ravine has EXTREME and HIGH avalanche danger. North, Damnation, Yale and Central gullies have EXTREME avalanche danger. Natural and human triggered avalanches are certain. Travel in avalanche terrain should be avoided and confined to low angle terrain well away from avalanche path run-outs. Pinnacle Gully, Odell Gully, South Gully, and the Escape Hatch have HIGH avalanche danger. Natural and human triggered avalanches are likely. Travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended.

First of all, let me just say this has been a truly impressive and rather unusual week since last Wednesday. The mountains are looking and acting vastly different than just one week ago. Many slopes that are not often thought of as potential avalanche paths are now fully developed. Some of the most notable ones in the Cutler River Drainage are on the northern and southern fringes of Tuckerman and Huntington Ravine, outside of our forecast areas. This is in addition to the areas we do forecast for, which have also received a tremendous amount of new snow over the past several days. You should clear your mind of your preconceived ideas of where avalanche terrain is and where it is not. In a nutshell, simply heading uphill of Hermit Lake puts you into avalanche terrain. By the time you reach the first aid cache at the floor of Tuckerman, you are fully into avalanche terrain that has an EXTREME danger rating today. Similarly in Huntington, heading above the first aid cache puts you into avalanche terrain, and there are even a handful of slopes before you reach that point that have avalanche potential. My advice for today is to find some terrain well away from the steep slopes and enjoy the powder.

Ok, now that I've got that off my chest here are the details...Since snow resumed last night the Summit has picked up another 7.7" (19.5cm) of new snow, most of this has been since midnight. Snow is forecasted to continue through this morning, and as this happens wind speeds will be on the rise and moving a tremendous amount of snow. We expect significant loading on all aspects, though the NNE direction of the winds will provide the most loading on slopes facing S, SE, and E. It is due to the direction of the wind that some slopes are rated EXTREME while others are rating HIGH today. Storm totals for the event are in the neighborhood of 40" on the Summit and 55" at Hermit Lake. This means there is an awful lot of snow up in the higher terrain that will be available for wind loading as the winds increase in speed. Through this storm we have witnessed avalanche activity on numerous slopes including windward ones. Today we will have the strongest winds since they have shifted direction (for most of the storm, winds were of a generally easterly direction). All of this adds up to us believing natural avalanches are either "certain" or "likely". I expect peak instability will be reached during the daylight hours today, so it is definitely a good day to play it safe. I know I'm looking forward to the first clear day, whenever that may be, but when that day comes it will be very important to keep the enthusiasm under control.

The Lion Head Winter Route is open. Expect avalanche terrain to exist nearby on either side of the trail, particularly as you enter the above treeline area. The John Sherburne Ski Trail is a happy place with lots of new snow and is a good option to avoid avalanche terrain. This is a backcountry ski trail, so if traveling uphill on foot please use the hiking trail to keep the postholing to a minimum.