We found the full range of winter conditions today on our tour into Horse Creek today. Most exposed areas we encountered had been affected by the strong winds during the last storm. We did encounter some small pockets of soft dry snow in extremely sheltered areas, but they were few and far between. Our descent down the dark side had some soft damp snow that skied fairly well. From the bottom of the Dark side we headed up Horse Creek and towards the northwest face of Laurel Peak. We skinned as far as we could and then booted up till the snow started to thin out. We found a mix of stubborn shallow wind slabs and firm spring conditions. We were able to ski all the way out of Horse Creek but we did have to dodge some exposed grassy sections