East Peak of Red: The White Diamond

On April 21, 2019, Henry Gibb, Kim Clark, and I were hoping to ski the slide path that starts at the southeast end of the southeast ridge of East Red and descends to the Red Buffalo valley. But as we approached it we saw that it had slid to the ground. We decided that our best option for the day was to climb it anyway, so as to visit the beautiful high terrain efficiently. We did so (booting on grass, dirt, and hard snow) and continued on the ridge to the summit of East Red (12945 feet). After a rest we descended the ridge a bit and then dropped into a fine looking line that drops into the bowl south of the summit (Red Diamond Bowl). From here to the valley is a 2500-foot run. We had great visibility at the top, but it disappeared suddenly as a snow squall moved in. This was a long day: 4200 feet of climb, 10.5 miles, just under 9 hours.