We made it to the bivi ledges in 98 and got rained on until we were back at the cars. Unlike you though, we found and crried out approximately $800 worth of booty - gear, a pack, down jacket, goretex jacket etc. - which had been dropped from much higher up the route or in the case of gear, left in plce as stuck.
It was in August though, and the entire pocket glacier had slid and melted out. We walked on rock all the way to the base, water was in short supply.