Temperatures on the mountain warmed up yesterday and surpassed the freezing mark. This helped the slabs that warranted yesterday's Moderate rating to settle out. Today you can expect a stalled front to keep lingering clouds around and temperatures on the Summit should reach the low 40's F. Winds will be out of the west between 30 and 50 mph. The next forecasted chance for precipitation is tomorrow afternoon and current temperature forecasts suggest that it will be rain at all elevations.

We got out into the field yesterday to see how the past weeks snow was doing. We saw that several areas had avalanched as a result of the new snow and high winds we received on Wednesday and Thursday, most notably in Huntington. We saw debris piles at the bottom of O'Dell, Pinnacle, Central, Yale and Damnation. Most of these piles were remnants of small slab avalanches and sluffs. They were not significant avalanches relative to their current path size, however, I was thinking that a climber wouldn't have been happy to meet one of these slides. I'm including this observation in today's advisory to help you get in the mindset of what is going on up here. If you are planning a trip to the mountains you need to be ready to deal with winter conditions including avalanche terrain. The calender may not say so, but we have mid-winter snow depths in some locations and several avalanche paths are well developed. While you are traveling in avalanche terrain you need to be mindful of changing conditions. You may travel through snowfields broken by rocks and bushes and quickly enter a larger snow slope. Both should be treated with respect during times on instability. If a snowfield is big enough to recreate on it's big enough to avalanche.

ICEFALL potential should be kept in mind as we see rain and more mild conditions in the upcoming days. Many folks have been injured and killed by falling ice so pay attention to where you are, and don't linger when under ice. Have a plan in mind about what you will do and where you will go if ice comes down. Station yourself near a large rock to duck behind in the event of ice fall. I know that may of you are ice climbers who just can't wait to get out on some early season ice. This time of year can offer great ice climbing on the mountain, but not this year. Warm temperatures haven't allowed ice to develop enough to create good ice climbing conditions. My advice is to be patient and keep sharpening you screws.

Don't wait any longer to refresh your avalanche skills. Pull out your beacon and practice. Review your safe travel rules, techniques for assessing snow stability, and sign up for an avalanche course. We now have all the avalanche courses offered in the Valley this winter on our website, tuckerman.org. Sign yourself or a loved one up now!