Lots of snow, but not many avalanches

We skied along the ridge to the Ramp. At times we had good visibility and were able to glass the west side and saw no avalanche activity. Alex saw only small slides yesterday to the south of the ski area. A squall in the pre-dawn hours rapidly dropped 3" of 18% snow (.5" SWE).  Winds had died down and there was no current loading as we traversed, but by the time we exited at noon snow was falling and winds were blowing north and east as the cold front hit. We dug a pit about 4 feet deep and found the new snow was not breaking in stability tests. We were encouraged by the lack of avalanche activity and no significant cracking on wind-loads, but we were still nervous given that 4 feet of snow had just fallen. We were not confident in the stability, but that will change with time as the snowpack adjusts to the heavy burden of new snow.