3-24-09 MH.... Why don't we do it in the trees

I skied solo today exploring some delicious canyon walls.  conditions were good for a powder day, with 16" on open terrain, and 12"+ in the trees, on top of the weekend crust.   NWAC nailed the avy forcast, as i saw a couple soft slab releases on east aspects with 38 degree pitches.  My own observations at the scene indicated reasonably stable conditions, so i attributed the slides to cornice failure.  on the next ridge over i observed very nice shooting cracks, but the slab did not release.  the risk was minimal, as the area was firmly guarded by trees, but the signs are there if one is in the wrong place!  i skied a south, sheltered, aspect, and moved around to some NW aspect.  what a wonderful day.  i cannot claim face shots, but from the neck down it was a good plastering.  i navigated onto some 40+ degree slope, as the pictures would indicate.  hand pits yielded good bonding to the weekend crust, with  a weak bond @ 10cm (between 3-22 and 3-24 snowfalls), although ski cuts yielded nothing.  ski on!  this was terrain that Wayne H. and i had explored on 3-22, but didn't ski as the conditions were less than ideal.  elevation ranged from 4.8k to 6k for the days ski.