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Low-Head-1493 t1_ivhkmzt wrote

Regardless of month, anything above tree line has the potential to be unsafe when the temperature lowers. You can become hypothermic even when it’s above 40 degrees if sweating/wet/chilled.

You should be checking the Mt Washington observatory website rather than asking us about snow. 🙂 They do a daily summit condition report and a higher summits weather forecast. I briefly skimmed & it sounds as if any light dusting of snow happening in the mountains early this week will melt Wednesday. Regardless of which summit, before you go check the forecast, ground conditions, wind speed and wind chill. Don’t rely on what you saw earlier in the week & monitor conditions closely.

It is safe to hike higher summits in November when you have a thorough understanding of how to regulate body temperature in the cold (avoid sweating/getting clothing wet, layer and de-layer as needed, pack/eat enough calories, have a solid warm clothing layering system plus spare mittens & socks) and an understanding of what the forecasted conditions are actually like to experience. Meaning, if you haven’t hiked in colder temps a lot yet, try that first in lower elevations. If you haven’t experienced high wind speeds yet, do so in an area where you can easily bail rather than overcommit in a more exposed location. Fingers can stop working very quickly in cold weather. It is definitely safer to gain an understanding of your limits by expanding your experience gradually rather than diving right in.

I can’t tell from your post if you are planning on eventually hiking in the snow/winter more often and are working towards that goal & acquiring more gear, or if you think that you’ve got enough stuff to be safe and are hoping to just tick off this specific adventure once.

If this is a one-off event for you, I hope you’ve tested out your layering system and that you know your limits regarding the cold/wind speed & wind chill. Pack microspikes even though at this time of year traction is often overkill.

The other commenter who suggested doing Jackson gave very sound advice & if I were you, I’d switch my game plan to that.

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