It was still dark when I reached the Fish Creek parking lot near Ski Louise resort, but I noticed that the gate for the restricted access road to Temple Lodge was open.  As tempting as it was to drive up that road and save myself an extra four kilometres of skiing (plus 300 metres of height gain), I didn't think it was worth a ticket or even possibly getting my car towed.  I dutifully strapped on my skis and began grinding up the road at 7:47 AM.  About five minutes later, a Ski Louise employee on a snowmobile pulled up alongside of me and asked if I wanted a lift up to Temple Lodge.  How could I refuse?  He handed me a spare helmet as I clumsily gathered my skis and poles and straddled the back seat of the snowmobile.  Having never been on a snowmobile before, I was a little shocked at how quickly it shot up the road.  With my hands full clutching my skis and poles, I clamped my legs around the snowmobile and hung on for dear life knowing that any sharp turn would likely send me flying into a tree or snow bank.  To his credit, the Ski Louise employee expertly handled the snowmobile and delivered me quickly and safely to the trail head above Temple Lodge.  After thanking my Good Samaritan for saving me at least 1.5 hours of mundane climbing up the road, I resumed my skiing up the trail to Skoki.  It was quiet, and snow was falling.

I reached Boulder Pass at 9:18 AM.  The weather was still socked in, and I was beginning to doubt that it would clear up at all that day.  Still, the ski conditions were excellent, and I continued across Ptarmigan Lake and up toward Deception Pass.  Just short of the pass, I ditched my skis beside an obvious Larch tree and began climbing on foot.  I ploughed through some sections of deep powder before reaching the base of Fossil Mountain's windblown west slope.  Although I made steady progress up the slope, I began to feel uneasy about my ski boots' traction on the mix of snow and rubble.  I sat down on a rock outcrop and dug out my newly purchased crampons from my pack.  A frigid wind buffeted me while I used my bare hands to attach the crampons to my boots.  By the time I was done, my fingers were frozen numb, and I spent several minutes trying to re-warm them.  When I finally started moving again, I marvelled at how well the crampons worked.  I had no further difficulties and reached the summit at 12:22 PM.  Unfortunately, the views were disappointing because of the crummy weather.