Not sure it's real good for "Dead End" yet I loved the exposure and composition so I still gave it an 8. There were not a lot of good photos in the dead end challenge. Yours got the highest rating from me which is strange since I usually don't score so high if I think the picture isn't on subject. Great shot!
The water is correctly exposed, but all of the snow and the sky is washed out. In this instance I think that you may have been better off underexposing the water. It might have been worthwhile to try coming back at night and shooting this as a long exposure; I suspect that the reflections could have been quite interesting.