The road to Marble Mountain sno-park was snow free, as was the sno-park itself. There was ample parking when I arrived Friday night. Started up around 5:30AM on Saturday. The trail did not become snow covered until about 0.75-1.0 mile up. We used microspikes and trekking poles the entire way to the rim. Only the last 5-10 feet just before the rim were hard-packed and icy.
Relative to previous years, at about 7,000 ft, the route begins veering east, and you end up at the rim about a quarter mile east of the "normal" location. If you plan to traverse along the rim to the "high point" you'll be adding about a half mile to account. Given the uncertainty around the "Monitor Ridge collapse" area and the frigid winds, we were happy to skip that.
On the descent, we mostly plunge-stepped and the snow was good for there. There were some nascent glissade chutes that we enjoyed. As reported, the postholing began below the seismic station. Once we reached the trees, we switched to snowshoes to make life a little more bearable for the new couple miles before carrying them the last bit to the trailhead. Finished up around 3:30, for about 10 hours round trip.
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