Huntington Ravine has MODERATE avalanche danger today. Natural avalanches are unlikely and human triggered avalanches are possible. Use caution in steeper terrain.

Yesterday we had a chance to get over to Mount Clay after meeting all the Observatory staff during their shift change to see how the Great Gulf gullies have filled from the last snowfall. We where very impressed with the amount of snow in the higher mountains of the Presidentials. The couple of "wintry mix" storms that occurred over the past couple of weeks have encapsulated the high mountains in either a thick snow and ice pellet crust or clear ice from a frozen rain event. The most surprising observation was the amount of soft slab still sitting above treeline for transport during the next high wind event. These pockets are sitting on top of the ice or crust making quite variable travel conditions. We got an early start this morning and came down Right Gully over the Knife Edge and through the edge of the Sluice before heading down towards the Floor. We were challenged by the changing surface conditions under foot. Traveling back and forth through new snow, very hard crust, and breakable crust requires constant attention and moving slow and deliberately.

We found the facet growth that we have been referring to over the past several days to be problematic. Some areas beneath the crust have facets growing to a size of 2.5mm, but of greater concern are the younger facets that are growing on top of the crust. We have been watching the potential for facets growing on top of the crust in locations that have new snow. This morning we found it. These facets vary in size from 1.5mm to 1.75mm in size and are often mixed in with graupel and rimed crystals. Hasty pits demonstrated cold slabs with lots of potential to propagate fractures. We found mostly easy shears above the crust that had the tendency to 'pop' out at you resulting in 'Quality 1' (Q1) shears. We feel these pockets are on the upper end of Moderate at times referred to as "Scary Moderate" given the right conditions. If conditions were less variable we would be in a "Considerable" rating, but there are large areas of surface crust peppered between areas of slab causing in a high degree of spatial variability. This is the key to being in avalanche terrain today. Expect avalanche conditions to change very quickly as you move from areas of surface crust to slabs sitting on crust. There is still some low drifting snow so expect some light loading in strong lee pockets of West winds. We will post a number of pictures to tuckerman.org later today from above treeline and the recent avalanche activity in Tuckerman.

We have been watching the Lion Head Summer trail snowfields get larger with each storm and are getting closer to switching to the Winter Route. Until then use caution when making this traverse and assess snow stability. As always in avalanche terrain use safe travel practices when crossing this area

The John Sherburne Ski Trail is improving with every bit of snow we receive. However expect abrupt waterbars, lots of bushes and rocks hidden under new snow.

As always, this advisory is one more tool to help you make your own decisions in avalanche terrain. It should be use along with your own snow stability assessments, knowledge of safe travel techniques, skill in reading mountain weather's effect on the snowpack and avalanche rescue. To improve these skills take an avalanche course. We have all the avalanche courses offered in and around the Mt. Washington Valley this winter on our website, tuckerman.org.