Ian Jackson and climbed Castle Tower today as far as the belay level with the snow bowl traverse (I needed to get back early). Rockbound Lake trail is wet and snowy from the first boardwalk but passable. The trail that branches off the main trail still has large snow patches in the trees but there is a pretty good trench in it now. Still some residual snow along the traverse under the cliff but quite manageable. Ice axe was useful there. The gully to the snow plateau has some snow but most of it can be avoided. From the Goat plateau to the end of the Dragonback, conditions are good. The upper route on both sides of the bowl is mostly dry. The bowl has lots of snow but crossing under the snow patch is doable. Later in the day, it will likely be sloppy and wet there.
The traverse along the Goat Ledge still has lots of snow. An ice axe is likely useful for traversing the steeper sections. Given the amount of snow we saw, I expect the top of the other routes such as Brewers and Bass to be very snow bound. Traversing over to the exit gully could be very difficult once the crust breaks down. I don’t know how much snow is in the gully.
Marc Ledwidge
MG