Finally made it up Longs today after three previous tries over the past few months. Well packed trail up to tree-line, then there are a number of divergent trails that seem to go through much softer snow while the main trail is hard-packed. I didn't use micro-spikes or snow shoes all the way to the Keyhole (my boots are in good shape, stashed the snowshoes along the way). The Boulder Field is wind-blasted clean, all the way to the camping area is basically clear. More snow past the camping area to the Keyhole but it is generally bullet-proof and I walked on top of it the majority of the time, very little postholing.
Keyhole to the base of the Trough had snow, wore crampons in the morning (10ish) since the snow was super firm and there were no tracks. There are basically 3-4, 20-50' more exposed snow crossings and the rest was a snow/rock mix. Wore micro-spikes from the Trough all the way to summit. Basically, you can more or less choose if you want to be on rocks or snow from the Trough all the way up depending on comfort level/preference. On the way back I opted not to switch back to crampons (from Trough base to Keyhole) as the snow had softened slightly (12:30ish) and I could follow my steps. Felt safe the entire time. All in all a pleasant winter day on Longs, winds were even manageable!
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