Red Lake Peak

We toured off the shoulder of Red Lake Peak in the Gazex Gully today.  Snow coverage was good with mostly smooth snow surface conditions and a good overnight refreeze.  2 to 3'' of soft wet snow existed on top of a firm supportable crust for our descent at 11:30am providing good corn snow conditions.   SW winds were increasing this morning and were strong by 11am on the upper ridges.  Above 9600', these winds prevented some wet snow development and softening.  The upper terrain in this area towards the peak changes to an East aspect with more variable and less smooth snow surface conditions.  Cornices in this area are wind scoured and eroded from the previous NE wind event and mostly small in size.