Before the winds...

Checked out backcountry slopes adjacent to Whitefish Mtn Resort. Reactive storm snow on specific terrain features. Harmless on nearly all slopes. 

• Near-surface snow structure was 8-12" of extremely low density snow, capped by 0.5-2" garden variety low density snow.  
• Dry loose avalanches were the most widespread concern. Triggering these seemed to require slopes near 40*; they broke in the storm snow and ran in the storm snow. Short-running, shallow.
• Where winds brushed the snow into a slightly stiffer layer, we were able to trigger very small avalanches using ski cuts and pole whacks. Yep, whacking steep slopes with a ski pole was all it took. The slabs quickly disintegrated and ran as sluffs. 
• There's lots of easily-transported snow available for drifting and slab formation, though storm snow won't support much of a slab before it fails naturally. 
• Intense blowing snow in the valley late afternoon, with dense, thick slabs forming on steep lee slopes. 2 slab avalanches (one natural; one triggered with a hand slap) on south facing slopes; both D1/ relatively harmless.