The Bad Boy, 2008

It's on its way. The Bad Boy. As far as I know, we'll all be there. MD and I won't be coming up until late morning/early afternoon on Friday.

Conditions on the mountain are raising the spirit of the same idea that we float every year: Hillman's. Even though there is fresh snow up there, it's feather light and is blowing around and settling rapidly. Underneath is absolutely bomb-proof crust all the way to rock. We have a warm-trend this week, including rain, sleet and sun and it's possible that we could have very low avi risk on Saturday. Even though I'll be the first to jump ship at the smallest sign of unstable slab, I'll be the first to consider Hillman's or (gasp!) Dodge's again.

Just puttin' the idea out there.

[Update 1/31/08 11:55am]
If you've been paying attention, we've got a winter storm watch (not yet warning) in place for all New England. 6+ inches of snow (by definition of a 'winter storm') followed by sleet and freezing rain. The last of the precip is to end Saturday morning. Our Saturday trek will be in a huge dumpload of fresh snow. If there are winds aloft, it'll all be in motion, meaning close to zero visibility until it settles.

The MWO guys aren't calling it yet, but I wouldn't want to be lost on the summit Friday night. Saturday is going to be damned interesting. Personally, I'm already 'calling' it: no unstable terrain for me. I'll probably be in snowshoes, no crampons, and I'm not going near the ravines.