Quick report
Climbed with splitboard and descended via SW Chutes. Started climb at 3:30AM (South Climb Trailhead), Piker's Peak 10:30AM, Summit 12PM, Entered SW Chutes 2PM, back to car about 4:15PM. Trail was free of snow until about 6,000ft (intermittent). Consistent snow by about 6,500 ft (Timberline Camp). Snow was firm all the way until sun started hitting it and it softened pretty quickly (top layer). Overall the snowpack is very well-consolidated from bottom to top. Good boot pack from beginning of snow to summit, easy to follow. I was in microspikes with snowboard boots most of the climb and felt very stable. Skinned up some sections as well, but snow was a bit firm on Piker's Face when I was climbing it early in the AM. Maybe easier to ski/skin up late morning or early afternoon. Mostly clear day, few clouds in the afternoon. Forecast high of about 30 degrees at the summit, but with all the sun it felt much warmer and snow softened up quite a bit by late morning/early afternoon. SW Chutes were a little icey at the top, but mostly a great ride with a few inches of softer snow on top of a very, very firm snowpack. Snow was thin for the traverse back from The Chutes to the main trail. I opted to just descend to "Round the Mountain" trail and hiked about 2 miles SE back to meet the South Climb Trail back at Timberline Camp. I took Forest Road 23 from Randle to Trout Lake. FR23 is open, lots of pot holes and some slow driving in areas.