when were you guys out there? thinking of heading up to the eastern ramparts tuesday or wednesday. how much snow was actually up there?

I was up there on Saturday and Sunday (3-8 and 3-9) and there was a a ton (18-36 inches) of snow. Hiking up the East Bluff Trail from the North Shore is the least sketchy of all the practical approaches to the east. Balanced Rock and CCC were mildly sketchy and Potholes had about a 10-15ft section of WI2 in the canyon, but you could skirt it with some fourth class on the east side.

While not neccessary an ice axe and crampons would make any of the main southern approaches much less sketchy. All of the south facing rock I saw looked very climbable.

I've been out climbing a few times lately. The sun exposed rock has been awesome! As James stated there are some bad stretches on the trails but to be able to get on rock has been worth the effort.

Climbing was good. It's definitely rock season. The route I got on was in perfect condition and it was nice to be out on rock again. Bouldering season is definitely not in yet. still a fair amount of snow left over.