Hiked to trail camp on Wednesday. Group of four. Two of us are in our forties, two aged 17. Me and the (then) 16 year olds successfully summitted in July 2017. Snow conditions were much worse then than they are now.
A word of caution: last year I made sure my son and his buddy hiked at my pace. About a mile an hour. This is recommended to help your body acclimate. We all made it, successfuly summitted, no problems with altitude. This year, my son and his buddy booked it up the mountain (carrying 35 pound packs), got terrible headaches, and were unable to summit.
My friend and I however took a slow pace. 6.1/2 hours to trail camp. (This includes stopping for lunch on the way) Neither of us had any problems with altitude.
We summitted on Thursday 6/21. Four hours from trail camp to summit. We took the switchbacks. We had microspikes but they were not needed. Very few snow crossings. Trekking poles still very useful at snow crossing at cables.
There are no water crossings that require water shoes. Trail is good. Lots of places to resupply water on trail from portal to trail camp. But, take lots of water from trail camp! I took two liters to summit and still ran out.
Took us 2 1/2 hours to get from summit to trail camp. Packed up our gear, left trail camp at 5:00 and got down to portal at 8:00. With the exception of my boy and his buddy getting headaches, it was a good trip. Really windy at trail camp and summit tho. Stake your tent, bring ear plugs, and dress accordingly. It was not cold except for the bite of the wind.
Be safe. Happy trails.
I'm pretty sure I ran across your boys on Wednesday while doing a prep hike up to Lone Pine Lake on the 20th. They were moving pretty fast and passed me right as I was getting to the lake junction. I remember because I asked where they were from and they mentioned Fresno. I was raised in Fresno but live in southern Cali now. Then I saw them on my way back down from the summit on Thursday and they mentioned not summitting due to altitude symptoms.
I summitted on Thursday(21st) with my cousin. We were the ones smoking a cigar up there. ;-)
We started at 2:15am: 4 1/2 hours to Trail Camp and 4 hours from trail camp to summit. An hour and forty minutes at the summit (due to cigar) and 6 1/2 hours back to the portal from summit.
