The last time I went up (1/25) and today I took a different route than what I wrote in the description. Ironic I would start doing other routes after I wrote the description. Both times I went up to the bottom of the Dutchman and then kept on going and gaining a little elevation until I reached the lower parts of the Allison Clay. Last time with the lousy weather myself and Scott from SP went about 50% of the way up the AC before turning and making a roughly straight shot for the summit. We returned in a similar manner.
This time I was alone and I took the AC all the way up to the volcano's rim and then went to the summit as I normally would. I went down the same way. This is a really good area for cramponing and it is excellent practice for the final 400 on Whitney. I was able to do the entire hike without snowshoes, thanks to the still firm ice crust under the thin snow that fell on Monday.

I took some pictures of the small avalanche that apparently occurred shortly after the Dec-25 storm. Incidentally, that was last good storm Flagstaff and the mountain had. Coming across the very bottom of the ski runs I observed several small bare patches. We definitely need snow.