My goal was to discover the possibility of scrambling the north-east face of the Chief. I was surprised that there was an actual trail and a good one. It is well marked. There are several scrambling sections but they all had ropes. Some of the ropes appear to be new. It looked to me that it was a new constructed or recently maintained trail. The scrambling is moderate but the ropes make them easy. Some of the slopes feel a little exposed.
It is definitely a viable alternative to the two standard routes of the chiefs if you are up for an adventure. It is harder than them. Navigation could be also a challenge as there are two forks along the trail that go to Sqauw. There are also several climbing routes along the way which appear to be the actual trail.
After I got to the summit, I saw the brilliant double cliffs. Absolultey beautiful. A deep and very steep gully. Scary in the beginning as you have nothing to grab especially when it is windy but wait a minute till the adrenaline stabilizes.
Zero traffic on this trail till I reached the north summit. It was busy with people but not too much.