Just a quick note. Our group of 6 made it to the summit on 6/22 after camping on 6/21 at trail camp. We only needed our hiking shoes and trecking poles. We did have to step outside of the cables for two steps on the way up but it had melted even more on the way down and we were able to stay inside. The last switchback had some snow but there was an easy trail to follow. We went on top of the rocks at the trail crest rather than try to cross on the snow above the chute, which was easy and I would recommend. There are then about 3 sections of snow right before the summit that has a well made trail making for easy travel. Going down on this section would be the only place I could see micro spikes being a convenience but none of our group needed or chose to put them on. Definitely not a need. We did see a few people trying to go up the chute, and it looked miserable and slow!
Our group of 6 ranged in ages from 29-40, 2 experienced and 4 who had never done anything like this. Keep up on water intake, sunglasses and sunscreen! We were in t shirts the entire trip except at night/camping. Have fun and thanks for all of the help from previous posts!
