We set the alarm for 4, which pretty much put the summit out of reach. I had a fitful nights rest, getting constantly biffed by the flapping tent, which wasn't totally adequate, given the windy conditions. We awoke and spent what must be a record 3 hours readying ourselves. By this point we'd resigned ourselves to trying to climb the ice-chute (the hardest part of the climb) and check out the glacier above. I was pretty frustrated by the time we left. We dropped down a narrow ice-avalanche chute from the camp until we could traverse under an ice finger and into the chute proper. Here we climbed the moderately steep (45 degrees?) slopes of the chute, placing running pro (snow flukes). The conditions could've been better: the snow consisted of a couple inches of crust on top of unconsolodated snow, on top of hard snow/ice (sometimes could penetrate this layer with a fluke). However, kicking through the crust let the crampons bite into the firm crust layer, which made me feel secure, but was tiring.
We climbed about 1000 feet (to around 12,200), stopping when the slopes eased up. At this point, we got some sun, ate some snacks, and descended. Getting down was something of a pain, and I wouldn't want to do it late in the day. On the way back, rather than dropping below the ice finger and traversing into and climbing the dangerous avalanche chute, we found that we could traverse directly over the ice finger, on ledges, and then quickly dash across the avalanche chute to camp.
The walk back to Paradise took a quick 3 hours. The snow was mashed potatoes by now (freezing level had moved up to 10,000 feet). All in all, the trip was a great time. The weather was beautiful, the views were stunning, and the route was uncroweded.