We had been skiing north facing slopes all day with no red flags. This slope is different than what we had been skiing as it is between two canyons and gets a lot of wind loading. I decided to ski cut it, and it fractured and ran down before I could even get across the slope. The top 12" were more cohesive/slabby than other snow we had been skiing. The bed was fairly hard and smooth, which is different than other north slopes we had skied. I suspect it had slid before the recent storm, and the new snow did not bond well to the surface.