Zigzag Glacier questions

Although I've done loads of skiing in this state, I hardly ever make it to Oregon. Had some questions about skiing on the Zigzag.

Assume we are talking about conditions right now. Per the Timberline page and its cams , sure looks like there is a lot of non-snow lookers left of the groomed Palmer snowfield, much more than is shown as the Zigzag's surface on the old topos.

So based on there being no intermediate snow, what's the accepted technique of skiing the Zigzag, assuming you start from top of Palmer with a single-ride ticket? Angle up and left to near base of Illumination Rock? How much hiking would that be?

Then, assuming you ski the Glacier down to maybe 7500, what now? Looks like you'd want to climb / traverse up and right and maybe try and intersect Palmer then one of the gullies still snowfilled near Magic Mile? How much hiking is that?

In the current rather dreary snow conditions with the recent warm temps, what are chances of  the Zigzag even worth it surface conditions wise? Is it going to be icy rock studded etc?

I don't know about the conditions, but don't ski off the cliff at the bottom!

I was up at Hood last weekend on the White River Glacier, and the snow conditions were actually quite good.  Don't know about the Zigzag though.  I'd venture a guess that it'd take you a couple of hours from the top of the Palmer to get out towards Illumination, given the conditions.  Driving up to Govy last week, there was still rideable snow on the Zigzag.

Your best bet would be to cut back over about 7900 feet, prior to the start of the canyons separating the glacier from the Palmer. You could easily hike back up from 7500 ft and then ski the Mile and avoid the cliffs lower down.  I'll be up there this weekend on the snowfield (Sat) and can give a better report, depending on when you're planning on coming down.

Also, another useful reference is Google Earth - it kind of shows how the glacier sits in relation to the snow field.   

After being up there today on the Palmer, a revised estimate of an hour to the upper Zigzag seems about right. The snowfield coming off the Zigzag looks really good, and you could ride down quite a ways back towards the Mile and ultimately hook up with the Timberline trail for a short hike back to the parking lot. It's visible from the lift.