I picked this trail because it was fairly accessible, strenuous, had great views, and the route that I was going to take (the "summer route") was fairly quiet. The day was also very crisp and reasonably calm, so the risk that I was concerned about was storm slab (due to recent snowfall) and wind slab (due to recent winds).
I showed up around 11:00, thanks to a really late start. Eyed parking around the area and found a spot that was parkable while ensuring that the folks in front of and behind me could get their snowmobiles in/out of their trucks (the parking lot was full of trucks with snowmobile trailers). I started down the small connector towards the summer trail from where I parked.
The path through the woods was nice and beautiful. The snow was lower coverage but firm enough that I could push up between the trees easily, minding the buried logs, so I decided to cut through the trees a bit to gain elevation and reduce some of the distance.
The creek crossing was a bit tricky. I was trying to shortcut some of the distance, but the elevation change down to the creek was a bit too steep to make a straight beeline and ford the creek down lower, so I followed the trail a bit more until I found an easier spot to ford the creek by bunnyhopping over the gap with my snowshoes on.
The next section I was concerned about traveling under cornices, so I decided to push straight uphill through the trees and walk the ridgeline until I hit the flat section that joined up with the trail.
I walked through the flat section a bit, observing all of the old snowmobile tracks that had cut through the forest, then got to the section where I needed to push uphill again to the saddle. This area was considerably tougher to go up, so I used my lifters to push down 3"~4" of snow and braced myself over each step with my snowshoes and trekking poles to ensure that I wouldn't fall back.
Spotted a cornice with an overhang near the ridgeline to the right, so I went left to avoid walking under it, and finally pushed up to the saddle. I stuck to the south side of the ridgeline to avoid triggering the cornices.
I walked a bit further, but stopped 600' short of the summit due to the fact that I hadn't been taking care of my caloric intake over the course of the day and the path I chose was extremely strenuous, i.e., "I got the bonk". I did have food in my pack, but the cold winds combined with me being out there on my own were making continuing on and eating the food less compelling.
So, I backtracked down the saddle, but decided to walk the path out (over the forestry road that's exposed in the summer) that a swarm of snowmobilers had used over the past few weeks.
It was nice at first, but then the boot penetration got ridiculous the further down I went. I tried glissading down the path, but given how chunky the snowmobile tracks left things, my backside hurt a fair bit (lesson of the day).
Eventually (around 3k' IIRC) the snow got shallow enough that I just took off my snowshoes and decided to slip around a bit more and find snow-covered areas that I could follow down through the trees, cutting the distance I'd have to walk down the forestry road.
I got back to my car about a half hour before dusk (17:00), ate my dinner, and drove back home.
No other individuals were encountered that day after I left the spot where I parked next to the road. It was great :).
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