Quick report
Today we toured above red lake and an east facing chute. Temperatures stayed above freezing overnight and mushy & punchy snow was encountered on ESE slopes near 10,000' at 10:00AM. NE aspects are supportable and and in good condition at the same time of the morning. By 11:15 NE aspects had softened considerably. Snow semi supportable for skinning in the trees at 10,500' was also noted. We found that by the time N aspects had softened sufficiently for good descent conditions that the lower snowpack was very soft and punchy and choosing an appropriate return route with a continuous slope or shaded aspects is highly favorable. Digging a snow pit at 10,400' we measured a snow depth of 275cm characterized by wet surface snow with 1F hardness underneath. 1F rounding facets were encountered at the bottom of the pit under a P hard layer.