Stunning right from the parking lot and just gets better, but not quite thawed out yet. Yes, you can get to the summit, but there are several sections in between with slushy snow and a 1000 ft slide that wasn't worth it for us. We had spikes, poles, and hike all winter long, but we and several other groups all assessed this as unsafe.It is still avalanche season. We also attempted the lake and got within a few switchbacks about 500 ft above it before turning back. I would give the peak a couple more weeks at least and the lake several to thaw out a bit more and be safer. Lots of marmots out too :-D
Video is of the worst bits of the drive.
Road/Parking: The road was bad and definitely not recommended for a sedan if you like your car, but not too bad for an SUV with ~8.7 inches of clearance. There were some big holes, but it was all doable slowly, that said it was long and quite steep in sections. Parking at 8:30 only had a few cars, but by the time we left, a little after noon, it was overflowing and more people were still coming (it had also gone from misty to mostly clear by then). The road wasn't real narrow, but often not wide enough for two way traffic so we had to back up several times on the way down to let people pass. There is a th pit toilet and it wasn't too bad.
Trail: We started out with a moody morning with mist swirling around us, but a clear view to the stunning river below. The trail had lots of flowers, especially towards the top. The tread could use some work in some places. Lots of erosion cutting away at the trail from cutting switchbacks near the start and towards the top a few spots are crumbly and very narrow. Nothing crazy, but not somewhere I would take someone with height issues or unsteady feet. A couple of the corners require what some might consider mini scrambles or big steps up rocks. There is no shade, except for on a couple of the corners about halfway up.
No snow until you round the backside of the ridge, right by the junction with the lake trail.
Lake: It was cloudy when we got up there, so we decided to attempt the lake first. The first snow section was slushy and steep but we could see the trail on the other side. The first 1/2 mile or so was intermittent snow, until we reached the gully, then it got fairly constant and there were some huge tree wells to navigate. On one steep section one person from out group punched through into a hidden one up to their thighs. Eventually we hit some switchbacks that were impossible to navigate with the steep snow and turned back. We could see clean switchback below us, but we couldn't quite get to it.
Peak: We didn't get very far beyond the lake split. By the time we got back from our lake attempt the clouds had opened a bit. We took in the views as we walked towards the peak, but soon found a section that was on a pretty good angle that continued all the way down to the lake. We didn't trust the slushy snow so we called it. Since the trail wraps around the mountain you get all the vies either way, just not at once.
Stats: With lots of route finding and snow shenanigans we clocked 4.6 miles, 1550 ft elevation gain/loss, 2.75 hours moving, 3.5 total. We are moderate/fast hikers who hike weekly.
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