as of two weeks ago the path from Paradise —> Muir was covered in snow about 80-90% with rocky breaks near meadows. Depending on conditions the snow’s not that bad, if it’s packed enough it’s helpful simply following someone else’s footsteps up the path. The climb is enjoyable because even at the start you can roughly see your goal. You start trucking away ~5400 feet or so and by 8500-9000 feet the big thing is the altitude. So…yeah, in clear conditions the only thing, really is having enough stamina and endurance for the end. As far as technical skill my 13 year old cousin made it up, the last 1000 feet by himself, again with the caveat that it was in clear conditions.

Oh yeah, I say path because that’s more accurate then trail after you reach Pebble Creek, which is about halfway up. You’re on wide snow fields, so there’s a lot of room to move around heading both up and down the mountain. In clear conditions that’s not a problem but what you really don’t want to do in stormy conditions is accidentally head too far to the left and get into the Nisqually glacier basin in which case you’re mildly fucked. Or the right, I guess. That’s off the path too. Be aware and you should be ok.

Essential stuff to bring:
rain jacket/ rain pants (and pants help sliding down the mountain on your butt)
ski pole (mine was extendable, used it the whole way up and helped sliding down)
warm polar fleece REI-style jacket thing
too much food and water. be prepared.

if it’s sunny and cloudless then you’ll be cruising in t-shirt and shorts all the way until Muir, when winds start picking up. if it’s cloudy/rainy then you should at least consider whether or not you should be up there.