I've been using steepish approaches for the past several years in Alberta and BC and I'm still alive. I've always questioned the shallow approach, and I'm not saying I won't ever use one (cloudbase is one good reason as SAR Bloke suggests), but I will always try steep first. And you certainly shouldn't go shallow with powdered snow...
And if it's too high and too windy, you shouldn't be there. Period. Time to get a better machine.
That said,