Hiked on 10/28/19. Left at 4 am. There was fresh snow on the route from the night before. A light powder about 3 miles in that melted later in the day. There was more snow and ice on the 97 switchbacks. I used microspikes on the way down just to be safe. Some snow and ice along the trail behind the peaks by guitar lake; I used microspikes going to the summit at this part. You could do the trail without spikes if you wanted. The last lake had a thick layer of ice that required me to use a rock to smash a hole through the ice to filter water. Temps were 0-20 degrees F with 5-20 mph winds. I had two bottom layers and four on top, two pairs of gloves with hand warmers, and a hat and an ear band. My first Whitney summit and my second 14er. The road to the trailhead was clear of ice. The trail was very clean; the only trash I saw was one wag bag closer to the summit. Thank you to everyone in the group for the information. It was very helpful!
The snow is light for the end of October. Here at the cables:
