I talked to the road clearing foreman from Inyo County on my way down from a successful main trail summit. He was inquiring about the road conditions further up and stated that they were beginning to clear the road that day (4.25.23). Indeed heavy equipment was moving up the portal road as I was coming down. I asked about duration and he said that there is no time limit for them. Yes there are large rocks but nothing removing the handrail and rolling over the edge wont take care of. They had a solid crew then and more on the way, I doubt the "word of mouth" duration will hold up. The major concern is lack of parking at the physical portal. The trailhead is a huge avi debris field and the main parking lot is a river. Snow is cleared by the FS and not the Inyo rock dudes. Their work cannot start until the road is cleared first. That 3.5mi is not too bad, a good warmup for the crazy conditions on the mountain, especially the main trail this time of year | 
