Presidential Range

Triggering an avalanche is unlikely on firm and icy snow surfaces. Long sliding falls are a serious hazard today. Use extra caution in steep terrain, where falls are dangerous on a hard, slick snowpack with exposed rocks, ice, and trees below. Bring your crampons, ice axes and the skills to use them to help prevent a fall. 

Yesterday’s wet soggy snowpack is today’s frozen snowpack. Observations from Tuckerman Ravine yesterday found a saturated snowpack from the 0.28 inches of water recorded on the Mt Washington summit. Temperatures started warm yesterday, rising to a high temperature of 38F on the summit before noon, then dropping quickly once colder dry air moved in. Temperatures bottomed out at -6F overnight. 

Today, expect to find a frozen hard snow surface unlikely to produce an avalanche. Two hours of observed snow showers yesterday may have produced a few thin wind slabs on southeast and east terrain at middle elevations, but if these wind slabs exist they will be thin and easily avoided. 

While the refrozen snowpack greatly reduces the chances for an avalanche, the chances of taking a long sliding fall is significant. Traveling on steep snow slopes today will require the use of crampons (not microspikes), an ice axe, and a well practiced ability to move carefully to prevent a fall. Also understand that the snow surface in many places may be too hard for “self-arrest” to stop a fall, at best it may only slow you down. Prevent a fall from happening by using precise, secure foot placements and careful balance along with using one or two ice axes for added security. 

The Lion Head Summer Trail is CLOSED due to increased avalanche hazard. The Lion Head Winter Route is OPEN and the most direct route to the Mount Washington Summit from Pinkham Notch. 

OBSERVATIONS: Please consider submitting an observation of what you are seeing in your travels. Submitting an observation hones your skills, informs other users, and improves our forecasts.