Relay Peak

We approached Relay from the trailhead SE of Incline Lake. The Lake is in various stages of meltout with large open areas of grass and water. We stayed mostly E of the Lake and entered the south facing glades just north of the Lake. We were able to cross the creek at the wooden bridge, which is half clear of snow. The creek is almost entirely open and flowing. The south facing glades are in various stages of meltout with many dirt areas and exposed rocks. We were not able to skin continuously on snow and had to boot up short sections of dirt and rock. The snow on the approach to this point was mostly soft, especially in the trees. There were some patches of thin superficial crust in the shade with soft snow underneath. There has not been a refreeze in this area for some time.

Once in the near treeline area facing the E/SE bowl at about 11:00 am, we decided against the north ridge approach due to lack of snow on the south slopes to approach that ridge. As for the south ridge, the snow was falling apart. It had already become mashed potatoes. We decided to go up the gut of the bowl and tried to stay on the N/NE faces of the bowl on the looker's left. Once on the ridge, we noticed snowmobiles in the bowl north of us and directly east of the peak. We briefly went into that bowl on the highest parts adjacent to the ridge extending from the peak and noticed considerably harder snow on N aspects with a thin layer of soft snow on top. Ski pen was approximately 1 cm. However, on the NE aspect of this bowl, the snow had already softened more,  and near the peak, I found a ski pen of 5 cm and a boot pen of 22 cm. There continues to be a HS of 174 cm near the peak.

We arrived at the peak about 1 pm and started descending at about 1:30 pm. We skied down the ridge to the E/SE bowl we had ascended and descended the N/NE aspects of this bowl. The first few hundred feet were good quality soft snow, and then the snow began to become slow. On locally steep NE facing slopes at about 9500 ft and below, I was able to release some small wet loose slides. They did not travel far, and I was still able to stop on the snow. 

Getting back down to Incline Lake was a bit of a chore through the melting out south facing glades. We booted down a few pitches. However, we were still able to largely ski down all the way to just north of Incline Lake. 

I was able to release small wet loose slides while skiing down steep NE aspects midday,

At 9565 ft on an E aspect at 11:47 am, ski pen was 5 cm, boot pen 20 cm.

At 9867 ft on a NE aspect at 12:10 pm, ski pen was 5 cm, boot pen was 11 cm.

At 10250 ft on a NE aspect at 12:42 pm, ski pen was 5 cm, boot pen was 22 cm, and HS was 174 cm.