7:59 a.m., Saturday, March 19, 2005 Tuckerman Ravine has CONSIDERABLE, MODERATE and LOW avalanche danger today. The Bowl, Lip and Headwall have Considerable avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are possible and human triggered avalanches are probable. Be increasingly cautious in steeper terrain. Hillman's Highway, the Lower Snowfields, Left Gully and Right Gully have Moderate avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are unlikely and human triggered avalanches are possible. Use caution in steep terrain. The Little Headwall has Low avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are very unlikely and human triggered avalanches are unlikely EXCEPT in isolated pockets. Normal caution is advised. Huntington Ravine has MODERATE and LOW avalanche danger today. Central, Yale, Damnation and North Gullies have MODERATE avalanche danger. Natural avalanche are unlikely and human triggered avalanche are possible. Use caution in steep terrain. All other forecast areas in Huntington Ravine have Low avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are very unlikely and human triggered avalanches are unlikely EXCEPT in isolated pockets. Normal caution is advised. It is still winter on Mt. Washington and we are still dealing with a dynamic mid-winter snowpack. If you are coming up hoping for warm days and stable corn snow you are too early! Over the past 24 hours the Summit has received 8.6 cm (3.4") of 11% density snow. This snow was accompanied by WNW and NW winds in the 65 to 90 kph (40 to 55 mph) range. As you may have guessed, wind loading has occurred in many areas and some snow is still blowing around the rims of the Ravines. There are a wide variety of slabs to be found out there along with many other surface conditions. The areas of most concern today are in Tuckerman Ravine and include the Lip, Bowl, Headwall, Sluice and Right Gully. Right Gully is rated Moderate, however, I would consider this area on the upper end of the Moderate rating. New slabs developed in here and throughout the Bowl over the past 24 hours. These slabs have formed over existing slabs that have been a concern on their own. It is worth discussing the Low rating on the Little Headwall today. It did receive new wind loading and may have pockets of instability. If you venture outside the Little Headwall's forecast area into the snowfields that surround it, expect Moderate conditions. In Huntington Ravine, Yale and Damnation Gullies have picked up quite a bit of new snow over the past 24 hours. These are the areas of most concern in Huntington, followed by Central Gully and the bottom of North Gully. You still need to keep your eye open for pockets of instability in other forecast areas rated Low. Today's summit winds are forecasted to be out of the NW 65 to 90 kph (40 to 55 mph) with higher gusts this morning. Expect more snow to move into the Ravines today and push some forecast areas to the upper end of their rating. 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. o This advisory will expire at midnight. Brian Johnston, Snow Ranger USDA Forest Service White Mountain National Forest 8:23 a.m., Sunday, March 20, 2005 Tuckerman Ravine has MODERATE and LOW avalanche danger today. The Bowl, Lip, Headwall Right Gully and Hillman's Highway have Moderate avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are unlikely and human triggered avalanches are possible. Use caution in steep terrain. All other forecast areas have Low avalanche danger. Natural avalanches are very unlikely and human triggered avalanches are unlikely EXCEPT in isolated pockets. Normal caution is advised. Huntington Ravine has LOW avalanche danger today. Natural avalanches are very unlikely and human triggered avalanches are unlikely EXCEPT in isolated pockets. Normal caution is advised. It is still winter on Mt. Washington and we are dealing with a dynamic mid-winter snowpack. If you are coming up hoping for hero turns in stable corn snow you're too early! Yesterday provided some solar gain on slopes facing into the sun and winds died down in the second half of the day, effectively bringing a halt to the morning's wind-loading. These factors have helped the snowpack work toward stability, albeit slowly. Many areas have dropped a rating from yesterday's ratings of Considerable and Moderate. Despite this drop in ratings you still need to keep your avalanche goggles on. Areas posted as Low today may very well have isolated pockets of instability and triggering even a small pocket can have drastic consequences. As WNW and NW winds pushed more snow into the Ravines yesterday morning we watched the fracture line in the Sluice come close to disappearing. Areas in the lee of these winds developed new windslab through the first part of the day and are deserving of the most respect today. Examples include the Sluice, under the ice in the Headwall, high in Damnation and the large isolated pockets scattered throughout Yale Gully. Just before 2:00 yesterday afternoon a lone skier triggered a soft slab avalanche in the Lip. Others had been wisely avoiding this area after observing the morning's wind-loading and reading our advisory where the Lip was stated as an area of the most concern. The skier was lucky to be spit out of the debris and tumbled out to the side of the slide track. Fortunately there was also no one in the runout on the floor and the skier who triggered the slide was the only one involved. It's a good reminder on why you should only expose one person at a time to the risk in avalanche terrain, especially if you're going to venture in when the ratings state that human triggered avalanches are probable! 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. o This advisory will expire at midnight. Justin Preisendorfer, Snow Ranger USDA Forest Service White Mountain National Forest