Last weekend I started up the main trail and followed it for the most part.
I had to turn just after the cables on Sunday morning, as did another party. The snow on the switchbacks was powdery and slippery and that part of the trail was exposed.
Up to that point we had gotten by with decent waterproof footwear and hiking poles.
Just today I read a trip report describing in some detail how people went up the chute to the West of the switchbacks as late as June 2010. With snowshoes and more prior experience [than none] in self arrest we might have gotten a look at Trail Crest.
Up to the Whitney Zone border, the snow was either absent or below ankle deep. Beyond that point, we began to follow the tracks that went before us. These breeze past the sharp turn to the right onto the switchbacks down to Bighorn park and descend a steep slope near Outpost camp.
There was lots of activity at the Portal when we passed through on Saturday.
