The bottom part was slushy with a thin crust that quickly melted away. In places I was postholing to my knees even at 8:00 in the morning. The upper part was icy, but luckily (since I was using aluminum crampons and an axe with an aluminum pick) was almost all frozen neve but it appeared that there was water ice under the surface just waiting to be uncovered.
The snow started at 11,000 but it is just in patches now. I did not see any continuous snow coverage, even up higher. The snow was a bit slushy but in general wasn't too difficult to walk on. Where there was postholing, I *usually* didn't sink in further then my knees. The Lamarck Lakes are completely ice-free, but the lakes in Darwin Canyon are still mostly frozen over. It was warm and there was running water from snow-melt everywhere.
The area around North Lake was swarming with mosquitoes, but I didn't notice any yet at the Lamarck Lakes and in Darwin Canyon.