High Sierra Topix

Hi everybody. I want to refresh this topic.
Did anybody went there recently, how are the conditions?
Also is it easier to do this loop clockwise or counterclockwise?
I am planing to go there for the Perseids.

I dayhiked this route starting at Agnew and ending at DP this past M 7/29. Even less snow than two weeks ago based on an earlier report -- I never walked on snow and only touched snow w/ my poles twice, basically because it was not that far out of the way, and where I live in Boston we haven't seen snow in months.
Amazing patch of blooming heather about 1/2 way up:

Hi Syrob,

Welcome to HST! Your request for info for that area was split off from the 2011 thread
and started up a new thread, would prefer you not to piggyback off older thread.
Thanks.

Beautiful batch of heathers Xosob!

I was also there as part of a backpacking loop on 7/28. No snow on the route. It's just a long talus slog. Not a big deal if you don't mind talus. I think it's easier to go up this rather than down, so I'd suggest heading from Ediza to Minaret rather than vice versa.

Keep in mind that smoke from the Aspen Fire comes and goes quite heavily in the area right now.

Sure thing Maverick. And Thank you.
And thank you guys for the info. counterclockwise indeed seems easier. I was hoping that fire will be out until 9th.

Way easier to come from Agnew. Be aware that there is a tricky way down from Cecile if you go around to your left once ascending from Iceberg. You can go around to your right too. It's marked with Cairns and is a bit spooky, but very doable.

A few more details on the descent from Cecile to Minaret because it's not totally obvious what's the best route from the top:

There are some campsites on the southeast side of Cecile. Just east of these are a bunch of twisted trees. Descend just to the east of these trees on a use trail through some grassy talus into a small basin with a little pond. Go around the right (west) side of the pond between the round boulder and larger granite wall (see photo). From there, you can downclimb whichever little notch looks easiest to you. For us it was the second from the right as you look down; it's got some grass in it. You have about 15 feet of mild Class 3 (no exposure) and you might want to take off your packs and pass them down. Then descend down and a bit to the right to a super duper awesome campsite overlooking Minaret Lake. Follow a use trail from the campsite steeply down to the right (west) until you reach a stream, where you should easily find the trail turning back east. The trail around Minaret is obvious now.

Also beware that the use trail from the outlet of Cecile above Iceberg that leads to Minaret goes around the east side and is a really long talus slog. We found the use trail finally and put a lot of cairns up along the way to help others find it. It's higher up the slope, not down by the lake.