The light dusting of snow that was forecast for Saturday night ended up being a blizzard that dumped around 2+ feet on us. Expect deep snow for most of the trail above about 9 or 10k feet, especially outpost camp and above. Snow shoes are recommended until the snow hardens up significantly... we were blazing a new trail but postholing up to waist deep snow with every step on Sunday. It would not be safe at all to go up without an ice axe right now in my opinion, since several winter shortcuts and the chute are all very steep and dangerous without one. I likely would have died without one this weekend. Crampons are just as necessary for now.
That being said, I'm new to mountaineering so maybe others are more comfortable without these tools.
