I should start with this: Red Mountain is a high-risk avalanche climb. The avy forecast was low for this day, and we felt ok with the climb; but please be sure to check the forecasts and have avy knowledge and gear for climbing during the winter. Also, if there are skiers enjoying this climb as well, they can easily let loose a slide above you as they descend.
That detail aside :-) , this route makes for a fun and beautiful day out! Ended up needing our snowshoes for the climb near treeline (the trail below was a defined boot path), and then switched over to crampons and ice ax for the steeper grade up to Red’s summit. We then went back down to the main trail (well....attempted to take a short cut but cliffs made us backtrack, turning it into a long cut...) and continued North to check out Lunden Peak. We got as far as we could along the ridge line until we were cliffed out.
Snowshoes were nice to have along, as postholing was happening, but ultimately we used primarily crampons and ice ax - also helpful for the walk out on the well-used and icy boot path.
Total mileage was about 8 miles, 3,600 ft gain, and about 7.5 hrs total with chilling at the summit.
To note: we took the early crossing over Commonwealth Basin Creek (where there is a meadow area and a large log crossing), but ended up in deeper snow and had to bushwhack back to the main trail upriver. For ease of travel, we returned on the main boot path and was much quicker. :-)
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