Conditions the day of your hike are really important. When I did it a number of years ago, I did not see anyone with ice axes or helmets. Hiking boots, trekking poles with rented crampons was pretty much what I saw everyone using. Even a guy with crampons strapped to tennis shoes. But it was really warm that day and had been for a while, so we were climbing in like a foot of slush which made it more forgiving I guess.
