We started our climb on 7th morning from the portal at around 4.45 AM and reached the trail camp at around 1 PM. We took our time and took a few breaks at Lone pine and outpost camp. There were only two major water crossings one at the beginning of the hike within like a 1 mile from the portal and the second is at the meadows. While on our way up, we were able to cross them without getting wet as there were enough rocks popping up to step on. This was however not the case on our way down as the water levels had risen quite a bit and required wading through water but again it wasn't bad at all. Once we set up our camp and retired for the day, it started hailing and there was thunder and lightning. It was really scary but luckily it cleared by in an hour's time.
We planned to start out ascent up at 1 AM the next day but ended up starting only at around 5 (alarm malfunction! :/) and we initially decided to go up the chute as we didn't see many people go up the switch backs although a few from the previous day summit said they did. The initial climb on the chute was fairly easy in terms of the steepness. At one point we noticed the cables on the left but the path to it was pretty steep. I would say it was more like 60-70 degree incline. With crampons and ice axe we managed to climb up the slope which was probably not more than 25-35 ft. Once we reached the cables, we basically jumped over the cables to get to the switch backs. the rest of the switch backs were completely clear. We had to scramble up a few rocks at two spots in the switchbacks to get on the trail and there was one spot before the trail crest where you have walk across 20ft or so on snow that was again a steep incline. It had a lot of foot marks and so was not too hard or scary. Just use caution and put your crampons on. The snow started to get slushy right around 8-8.30 AM.
Once at the trail crest the trail was super clear and it is purely the altitude and climb. It slowed us a down a little but we finally managed to summit at around 11 AM. It took us solid 6 hours from the camp to the summit. After spending a few minutes up there, we made our way down to the trail crest. Going down the switch backs was out of question due to the initial slope we had climbed. So we decided to glissade down the chute. We had never done it before and the slope was pretty damn steep. There were a couple before us who said they have done it a few times and so we decided to follow them. We walked down the chute to the middle and clear of the rock section. (As many had mentioned, there is a big rock scramble right in the middle of the chute). Walking down the chute was a nightmare with the slushy snow. I had to dig deep with my heal and cement myself strong with every step. It was scary. Finally we got the tubeline and decided to glissade down that. That was probably the WORST idea ever. DONT USE THE TUBELINE TO GLISSADE. It is completely shaven and rocks are popping up at many locations. In fact a week from now if the weather holds like it did , most of the switch backs will probably be open. I lost control in the tube line trying to glissade and lost my axe one ( thank god to the harness I had). Finally down by around 2.30 PM , we took a long break and started back down to the portal at around 5 PM and were down by 8.30. The walk down was not hard at all.
Summary 1) Use your decision on taking the chute or switch backs based on the conditions on the day of your hike. 2) If chute is still usable, never use the TUBELINE to glissade. Find some fresh space to do so, since the snow is slushy it provides a much better control and helps arrest especially if you are novice like me. 3) There is plenty of water on the trail and so you can filter and use water all the way upto the trail camp. 4) Carry crampons and ice axe if you are hiking within the next couple weeks. We saw a lot of people who didnt summit because they weren't prepared with the gear. Worst case you carry it up and bring it back down without using it. It is good to have them.
Good luck everyone trying to summit! It is definitely worth the exhaustion and effort!! Thanks to all the earlier reports, it helped us a lot to prepare for the hike.
P.S I didn't have a camera on me but my friend did. I will post the pictures when I get them.
