Started from Artist Point at 9:30am and hiked counter clockwise.
There's a large snowfield to cover right as you leave the parking lot before crossing the road heading down to the Heather Meadows parking lot. Just before the you reach the Heather Meadows parking lot there's another snowfield that a little steep in spots. After that the trail around Bagley Lakes and up to Herman Saddle is in good shape and for the most part snow free (just a couple small patches that'll be gone in a few days).
Herman Saddle and the upper portions of the trail heading down to the lakes are still covered in snow. The easiest way to go down is to just glissade down until you're on flatter snow. If you were going the other direction you'd have some work to do to get up to the saddle but the snow is pretty soft so the footing isn't too bad (assuming you have decent shoes/boots). Poles would certainly help.
After glissading down there's a short stretch heading to the lakes that is still snow covered but flat so not a problem.
Once you're off the snow the trail is in good shape.
There were a few campers at the lakes.
There's another large snowfield to cross just before you reach the junction to Ptarmigan Ridge but it's not nearly as steep as the one at Herman Saddle and didn't present any problems.
There's one more snowfield to cross just before you reach the Artist Point parking lot. The very beginning of it is pretty steep but is only about 10-15 ft. vertically.
Not too many people on the trail mid-week. Most were going clockwise.
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