The road up to Heliotrope Ridge trailhead is drivable, but full of potholes with lots of blind corners. We were nearly hit twice while driving to the trailhead. Slow down on that road! The Heliotrope Ridge trail was a bit muddy, with one river crossing and only a few snow patches until near treeline (about 4500 ft). The crevasses are barely visible up to the Black Buttes and not a problem - yet. We roped up at the top of the ridge ""just in case"". The snow was frozen fairly solidly in the early AM, with crampons being preferred by most climbers. The crevasses on the Coleman-Deming route are still fairly narrow and were not much of a problem. The largest we had to cross was about 2 feet wide, with all the others being a foot or less wide. The snow conditions deteriorate quite substantially in the late morning and become slushy in the afternoon. The weather was clear and cold on the summit - and very crowded! There must have been 250 people climbing that route that weekend! It rained on us once we entered the trees below the ridge, making it even more humid. All in all a good, average early season climb!