Right now, I'm planning on a Friday ascent. I'm going to acclimate 2 nights: one night @ Lone Pine lake, and the second night at Trail camp.
Normally I'd spend a night @ Horseshoe or Onion, but I don't want to risk getting a late start the next day from possible traffic. This way, it doesn't really matter what time I get to LP lake the afternoon before, as long as I can leisurely leave the next morning for TC rather than rush around trying to get to Portal.
As for water, I'm planning on carrying 3L from Outpost. There should be some melt at Trail camp, but I want to have a reserve just in case.
I had been considering Thursday, but I decided to give the snow one more day to consolidate. The difficulty with the main trail is that once you ascend the Chute, you still have 1.9 miles from the JMT junction to hike to the summit. If the snow is deep and soft along the western ridge trail, then it could provide an obstacle.
The MR is a bit different, because once you ascend the Gully, you only have the final 400 remaining. While it's technically challenging climbing in snow, you don't have the long walk to/back that could add time or prevent a summit if conditions are too deep/soft.
This coming weekend should be perfect. There will probably be others thinking the same thing.
