We climbed without the use of traction. Snow was present on the headwall but was avoidable. The upper portion of the headwall had more trail segments than I expected. Snow covers large portions of the trail to the ridge but it was easy to cross in the morning. The ridge was mostly snow free and any we encountered did not complicate our climbing.
We returned to Castle after traversing to Conundrum. We opted to descend the couloir just off Castle's summit, which held supportive snow the whole way (we descended at 10). We used microspikes and poles for this pleasant alternative to downclimbing the ridge or taking the hellacious scree slope below the Castle-Conundrum saddle.
Other than a few powerful wind gusts it was a perfect day in the mountains.
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