Ken is, of course, correct. In that
famous--or as viewed by some on another board, infamous--post, I warned about taking the Mountaineer's Route too cavalierly. I encouraged people who were not independently fully up to the task to go with guides or experienced friends they could trust. The group you saw was exactly as Ken described: expert guides with a gaggle of clients whose abilities, quirks, skills, strengths, shortcomings, etc., were unknown. All possible precautions were taken, and that was the right approach. Those same guides, if going up by themselves, would have undoubtedly dispensed with virtually all of the gear you saw.
There are plenty of people who climb the Mountaineer's Route regularly in winter. My rescue group friends and I do it often. (See below for ways I have gone above The Notch; although in winter, it's always been via the first chute.) But we know the route and conditions quite well, and we almost never take anything beyond crampons and axes. If a storm is anticipated--and as rescue people we can't always go when the conditions are best--we'll take a rope and a few pickets, just in case.
As in all things, what looks like a dangerous endeavor may or may not be that at all. It depends on who's doing it. If you see someone climbing the East Face unroped, you may think, "That's crazy!" But if you are then told it's Peter Croft, you understand.
Don't judge a book by its cover.
