From the bottom of the trail, it looked very sunny and clear of snow, but ooooh were we wrong. Disregarding the “EXTREME ALPINE CONDITIONS” sign, we started our hike without our crampons or any poles. The switchbacks were long and exhausting, and about a mile in we started to hit patches of ice on the trail. The narrow trail made it extremely difficult and dangerous to pass through the ice patches, but we did anyway, with the slight fear at times of slipping down the side of the mountain. In the last mile and a half, maybe two miles up, there was so much snow on the trail that the switchbacks were impossible to see, so we ended up having to make our own path up the mountain through waist deep snow at times. The peak had amazing views, and some fun things to check out at the top. We dealt with the same issues of snow and ice on the way back down, but we were all thankful to just make it back down safely. Never again will we forget the spikes!!