The beginning of the spring season each year seems to be marked by the first busy weekend during the month of March. Although it's never a surprise to us it does shock us a bit to see hundreds of people in one day after the lesser numbers of mid winter. Over the weekend mountain travelers divided their use between Tuckerman, Lion Head, and Huntington. Saturday was probably the busiest day all winter in Huntington as over 30 climbers swung tools in the Ravine's steep gullies. Following Saturday's intense warm up at the mid elevations yesterday felt more like winter as the summit hovered around 15F (-9.5C) for the day. WNW winds blew limited new cold snow into Tuckerman creating some isolated pockets in the Lip, under the northern Headwall ice and in the Sluice. Skiers pushed around some new powder before dealing with Saturday's crusty conditions down low. Although not currently much of a stability issue diurnal recrystalization "dried out" the wet snow under the crust overnight on Saturday. This was driven by massive temperature gradients from the cold slabs due to the record breaking cold air from midweek. It was amazing to see this rapid faceting in wet snow under a porous new crust. We will watch this weak layer, but I think it will just be an interesting novelty as warm days and some rain this week will highly affect our snowpack. New precipitation will change stability in the Ravines, particularly rain, but until then we continue to have "Low" avalanche danger in both Ravines with limited isolated pockets of new snow.

The Lion Head Winter Route is open. This is a steep and challenging route. Crampons, an ice axe, and the ability to properly use this equipment are necessary for safe travel on this route. The John Sherburne Ski Trail is open with top to bottom coverage, but expect it to be challenging due to the freeze up.