The high pressure system giving us late spring weather in the high mountains will wrap up by later today. It will be pushed out by the approaching precipitation that will be with us for the rest of the week. If you were able to get out yesterday I hope you had lightweight polypro with you. With the exception of ocean waves I swore I was at the beach as the sun cooked southern aspects. The difference between the shade on northern aspects and the boiler of the south facing slopes was remarkable. The main contributing factor to this was the lack of wind. For most of daylight hours the summit recorded variable winds from 0-10kph (0-6mph)! Without pouring over historic data records I can't recall still midwinter air like yesterday during the past 15 years. Today will also be clear with winds increasing out of the SW at 30-65kph (20-40mph) before our drought ends tonight. Freezing rain and snow showers are expected during the overnight, tomorrow and Tuesday night. The valleys may get some rain particularly late Tuesday before a bit colder air moves in giving us some snow Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We need snow so bad that even I, the eternal optimist, am becoming a little depressed looking at our melting mountains. So considering we have only received 5cm (2in) of snow in the past 2 weeks here at Hermit Lake my spirit needs at least a few flakes on my cheek along with a little sub-zero bite. Over the weekend we spent time in both ravines and the feature that impressed me the most has been the number of glide cracks that are turning into small crevasses in February!

We have finally dropped the last couple Moderate rating areas to Low. We have been concerned about deep faceted instabilities and the potential of a skier to find that one "facet garden" forcing the slope to fail. Due to the unbelievable spatial variability in our field findings we felt the conditions were possible for just such an event. This obliged us to keep the rating above Low. At this point we feel with the amount of user traffic and the melt-freeze processes on the southern aspects that it's time to drop the human trigger potential to "unlikely". It is "most" plausible that an avalanche occurrence in these areas will need a significant weather event to bring buried facets to fail. Rain, large falling ice, snow load, or a moving avalanche from new snow are some of the more likely triggers to cause failure and fracture.

Falling ice and/or rock, running water and rotten ice in the gullies are all possible with these spring like temperatures. Snow has gotten pretty thin in some places and may have been undermined. As the shadow line creeps back across warmed snow expect a rapid change in surface conditions. Soft snow may quickly turn bulletproof so think twice before assuming conditions are the same as they were when you ascended an hour earlier.

THE LION HEAD WINTER ROUTE IS OPEN. Mountaineering skills and equipment are required on this route. Crampons and an ice axe are a must for safe travel on Mount Washington. The John Sherburne Ski Trail has reasonable coverage given the lean snow year and recent temps. You should still expect hidden hazards such as water ice and rocks.

As always, this advisory is one more tool to help you make your own decisions in avalanche terrain. It should be used 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.