WINTER SPORTS -- The avalanche forecast for the Idaho Panhandle won't be updated until Friday, but forecaster Keith Wakefield of Curlew tramped high into the Kettle Range TODAY and got some unsettling results from his snow pits and sheer tests.   Here's the scoop from a report he just filed:

Out snow geeking on Sherman Pass today, verifying the Canadians forecast for this region. Those Canucks nailed it! They had it at HIGH for today and tomorrow, and trending down to Considerable for the weekend.

Its the most complex the snowpack has been this season, and very upside down in the top 20-24" of the snowpack.

Two sensitive slabs in the uper two thirds of the pack totaling 20+ inches on the leeward N-NE aspects was a #3 ETC test down thru both slabs to a clean shear (q-1)

Wind has created nasty surface styro-crusts on windward S-SW-W aspects as well... Nasty.

Windy 10-15 today with rising temps. Good day for a trail ski. Going to be an interesting weekend in the region's backcountry. Heads up.