Huntington Ravine has Considerable and Moderate avalanche danger today. Central, O'Dell and Damnation Gullies have Considerable avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are possible and human triggered avalanches are probable. Be increasingly cautious in steeper terrain. All other forecast areas have Moderate avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are unlikely and human triggered avalanches are possible except in isolated pockets.

Over the past 24 hours the Summit has received 3.9" (10 cm) of new snow, which has been accompanied by steady west winds. Westerly winds will continue through the day with winds speeds of 55 to 75 mph (88 to 120 kph). Snow showers continue to fall but are forecasted to end around noon today. Today's stability concerns are focused on new slabs that have formed over the past 24 hours and will continue to develop through the day. The new snow has fallen on an icy snow surface that is generally rough in texture. The new snow has a density around 10% and has been loading into lee areas of the west winds. Drifts over 2 feet were observed on the Summit this morning and I suspect many start zones also have deep deposits of new snow. The steady west winds have been perfect for transporting the snow into both Ravines. Expect new slabs to be touchy and realize that in areas posted at Considerable the possibility of natural avalanches exists. Loading should continue through most of the day adding more snow to the slabs that are out there.

With all that said we need to take the current condition of our snowpack into consideration. As mentioned yesterday, we have a wide variety of conditions in both Ravines. One great example is in Tuckerman. Left Gully is well developed with a large start zone and 2/3 of the gully is filled in. This poses the most significant potential for larger avalanches in Tuckerman Ravine. On the other side of the Ravine is Right Gully, which has so little snow that we decided to stop posting it until it fills in. Between these two gullies lies a spectrum of broken up snowfields, bare rock, running water and disjointed snow gullies. In Tuckerman Ravine you can expect more continuous snow on the south side and more broken snow pockets as you move to the north side. As for today, the Considerable rating applies to the snowfields that are scattered throughout the Bowl. Some of the larger snowfields lie high above the Ravine. If you were standing below the Headwall or below Hillman's Highway, you may be perplexed as to how the area in front of you could be rated Considerable when there isn't really any snow. Realize the answer lies above you and hope no one is stomping around one of those snowfields while you ponder your question. Despite the small size of these snowfields, they are in the direct lee of the westerly winds, which means they are loading up. In Huntington Ravine the October snows are still paying off. You will find most of the gullies have snow in them and some have great coverage for this time of year, notably Central Gully. Some gullies have big pieces missing from them from melt out and large chunks of ice that fell out earlier in the week. As far as ice development goes we are starting over in most areas. There was zero ice on the Headwall and Sluice in Tuckerman on Thursday. Huntington didn't look much better with Yale slab being bare and many pieces of "has been" ice climbs lying defeated on the Ravine floor. Now that freezing temperatures are here to stay, we should see the ice development improve over the next week.

Don't wait any longer to refresh your avalanche skills. Pull out your beacon, practice, and spend a couple bucks on a fresh set of high quality batteries. 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!