I'm not an expert as I have only done Casaval Ridge once, but I think it would be a good choice for the time frame you have identified.
We camped at an excellent location at about 11k feet. This allowed a descent down the west face directly to camp - no climbing back up! This also allowed us to descend easily off the ridge down to Helen Lake and out the normal route.
As for being technical, my partner had only used an ice axe and crampon once before in the mountains. We did not rope up but saw some parties who did. There is tremendous route latitude so you will hear different versions of how steep/difficult the route is. We found short sections of hard, 45 degree snow and some exposed 4th class rock. We intentially stayed as true to the ridge crest as was feasible.
Good luck, I really enjoyed the route.
EB
Here is a link to my TR for additional info:
http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/5 ... ridge.html