South Side Red Lake Peak

We went to the south side of Red Lake Peak this morning to catch some spring snow conditions before the storm.  Sunny skies were present for most of the morning hours with building and increasing clouds moving in by late morning.  Cloud cover was dense along the west side of the Sierra Crest, but limited clouds moved East into our area until late morning.  S winds were gale force along the upper ridges above 9500' and were blowing straight up the South gully features that we skied keeping the top couple hundred feet from softening.  Once below that, soft spring snow existed with mostly good travel conditions.  The snow surface was ski supportable, but not boot supportable everywhere, with deeper wet snow found at lower elevations below 8800'.  The overall refreeze in this area was marginal but adequate for our timing and elevation range.