The soft wind crust is not present everywhere. In many places the snowpack consists of just facets with new snow on top of them. At lower elevations (<9500) the soft wind crust is replaced by a melt freeze crust.

I went up with a few Alta Ski Patrollers to look at some recent avalanches to determine whether they were natural and what the weak layer was. A quick hand pit revealed very loose faceted snow under the new snow. As we were approaching the avalanches we experienced a distinct collapse. During further approach, we unintentionally remotely triggered a small avalanche.

The older faceted snow is no doubt reactive to the new load.

The pile of debris wasn't all that large but would have definitely knocked a person down and perhaps carried them a short distance.