I hiked/ran up and down yesterday(4th). We ascended the switchbacks and descended the chute.
The switchbacks are definitely passable. You need to pay attention to where the trail is heading in a few spots and make on the fly decisions for how to avoid a patch of snow and rejoin the trail. There's a few sections where minor 3rd class climbing skills help greatly. The cables are easily passed on the downhill side though there is a short section of rock scrambling to rejoin the trail.
The traverse over to Trail Crest from the switchbacks can either be done on snow or you can scramble up to the ridge and traverse rock/dirt.
We glissaded the chute. I would say an axe is all but mandatory right now if you plan to descend the chute.
We started from portal at 6am and were done at 3. Snow was definitely getting soft on our descent.
We never used our crampons though I was glad to have them just in case.
The wag bag situation is pretty disappointing. I'd ban every one of those people for life if I could.
Snow is melting fast. I would imagine most everyone will be using the switchbacks by this weekend or next.
