Weak Snow at Lionhead

We rode to Ski Hill and dug on a NE aspect at 8000'. The HS was 40 cm with the top 15 cm being from yesterday's storm. This soft new snow was sitting on a thick supportable crust, and below that crust was weak-faceted snow. Stability tests showed no results, ECTX. From here we transitioned to skis and began walking towards the Lionhead Ridge. As we increased in elevation the amount of new snow increased and we experienced small whumpfs and cracking as we approached the ridge. Below the ridge, we dug on a NE aspect at 8700'. The HS was 56 cm and there was 22 cm of new and wind-drifted snow on top of similar layering. We got an ECTP1 at the interface between the new snow and weak snow just above the crust. We saw no recent avalanche activity but another party reported seeing a small avalanche further along the ridge.