Weather conditions were perfect, no fog and not too hot. We started at 9 am – my sister and I are both in okay shape so this “hard” trail was challenging for both of us. As others have said, the first 3.5 miles of switchbacks toughest part of the first half but after East Peak the way down is no picnic either. Rocky single track trails, Dipsea stairs, etc. And as someone else has mentioned Steep Ravine was closed for reno so we had to go around and connect up with Steep Ravine 1.5-2 miles down to pick up the trail again. All in all at 17.2 mile hike. Most grueling for me were miles 9-12 ish after East Peak – lots of rocks so can't move too quickly. 9.5 hours overall but we were admittedly a bit slow — stopped a number of times.