Our party took the standard route from the HPIC. An ADK employee inside thought that snowshoes would not be necessary, and he was right, but we still carried them, just in case. What we found was increasing amounts of snow on the trail, all broken, but not so deep as to be post-holed. We all wore microspikes all day and they were perfect. As we gained elevation, the snow in the trees was wintry-lovely.