Hobbes, thanks so much.
Many people will be helped by this.
In the first picture, "Switchbacks from 1st keyhole", I can see the switchback traversing the picture. I see 5-6 people on it, a little low and left of center, with the trail exiting the picture on the right edge, just below center. I assume that is the top switchback that extends all the way to Trail Crest.
A question: Is it all open like that, with no snow needing to be crossed? The second picture looks like people need to sort of edge their way around some of the remnant snow.
Yes, that's the final long switchback to the top of Trail crest with some hikers on the far left coming up. (Note: this photo was taken around 10:45am, which means they were still coming up when I was leaving by noon, so they got to experience getting down in the storm.) There are small patches ice/snow here & there like shown in the second photo, but they required nothing more than a brief double-check on downside stability with a pole and then across.
The 3 or 4 ice patches that actually took a few seconds to navigate, by either following existing boot tracks, or climbing/stepping over/around talus, were on the main trail past the JMT/MMWT junction near each keyhole. All 3-4 required hands down just to protect against slipping, tripping, etc. Maybe one had minor exposure, but you'd have to be pretty uncoordinated (or unlucky) to slip, trip or fall.
Come to think of it, there were 2 ice chunks completely blocking on the turns between switchbacks #20 and #30, but it required nothing more than climbing down 2-3' of talus and once again on your way. In other words, no exposure or anything other than making sure not to slip to prevent a skinned shin or twisted ankle.
Note: you can also see the blue sky, but with a dark cloud forming overhead.
