About half way up the mountain, the trail disappears under the snow altogether, so at that point, you are either forging your own trail, or you are just following footsteps in the snow. Not long after that, the footsteps that you follow just go straight up to the peak, forgoing all attempts at switchbacks. I slipped a few times on the way up, and I was glad that I had my ice axe with me. The views at the top were spectacular and I got to deliver some trail magic to the PCT hikers. On the way down, it was pretty much a mix of running, glacading, and straight up falling and self arresting with my ice axe until the snow disappeared and I could follow the trail again. Had a great day!