Slide / Buck Mntn SE slope surface snow in spring condition

Skied the SE slope on Buck / Slide Mntn. My relative lack of fitness slowed the group down to descending from 12.6k at 2pm. The main point of my conditions report is to say that melting is just now starting to creep up close to the top of this 12.6k alt SE facing slope. The top 50-100' of the mountain that is wind hammered snow wasn't yet melting after multiple days of sun and increasing temp. The 5k of descent below is in full on melt mode with seeming predictable and progressive melting from top to bottom. The first few turns were scraptastic. The next 500 meters of descent skied surprisingly well despite significant solar input and places were a pole would plunge 15 cm. There was a supportive base to ski on. Skinning up this portion after noon also went well in the sense that the snow wasn't sloppy enough to want to slush out under one's skis. The lower slope around 3100 meters and below, however, was turning pretty mushy and pushy with our late descent time. Weather for the day was cool and breezy enough to have a bite with intermittent passing clouds until 9am. After 9, the remainder of the day was bluebird, calm, and felt blazingly hot on the snow. Other than indicating that snow has been melting and transitioning to spring conditions up to just a short bit below the top of this slope, the second purpose of this conditions report is to share some coverage photos. The South Fork area back there holds significant ski potential during the next warm up!