As reported by earlier posters, you can drive - any vehicle, right now - to the 7-mile mark where there is a sign that says "Park Here". You can probably get another 1/2 mile or so up the road if you really want to, but after that there are intermittent snow drifts. I chose the safe route. Departed my vehicle at 8am. First hour, walking up the road, I covered 2.5 miles. Second hour, once I got up into the high basin, only covered about 1/2 that. Third hour, less than a mile. Ascended the snow face up to the summit ridge on the climber's right side to avoid a slide. That worked. Summited 11:15am, so 3:15 total ascent time, just under 5 miles. Took a few pics, downed some water, and headed back down the ridge. Glissaded off the saddle a couple hundred feet, then hiked out. Trails always tough to locate in winter, so I just found my way. Back at car by about 1:30pm, so 2 hours to descend. The snow is quite light, except it is a foot or two deep in the gulleys. Used spikes, which worked fine. Beatiful day, best I've experienced up high in winter. While it was around 0 degrees at 8am, there was no wind until I got high on the summit ridge, then just a light breeze. Was stripping layers on the hike out, under a bright and intense sun. 28 degrees when I arrived back at vehicle. No one else on mountain on this Monday. p.s. found a snowshoe almost buried in the snow near the base of the wall. Let me know if you lost this!
