Have done this many times. Just to report the condition. Road is dry all the way to Timberline Lodge. Snow, packed, starts right beyond the parking lot. You can walk around without any traction or snowshoes, since they groom the trails here. Need snowshoe to go off the trail. It's a wide open slope, good to go off.
We went above the end of Palmer for ~0.5 miles, and another 5-600' up. Fairly easy now due to the snow condition, and almost no wind.