Scott,

Beautiful pictures and stories.  You clearly have a great love of the
winter mountains and an ability to convey it to others.  But some of the
things you say scare me, although I am by no means an avy expert.  None of
the usual cast of characters has stepped up to caution you, so I'll do it.
 

"We found a slab avalanche large enough to take you down through two lines

of trees and over a small drop.  It was at the bottom of a little area 
that you could potentially drop into on your way to the traverse around 
the Adams Apple to Hellbrook.  Crown was around 18" with a second fracture

line beginning to form.  Very interesting.  Wouldn't be enough to bury 
you, but a nice quick 100 foot slide through dwarf, stabby, pines and a 
small rock band wouldn't have been fun.  I could see a broken leg or 
something...

http://tinyurl.com/o97xx "

It doesn't take a very big avalanche to kill you.  Most slides run less
than 150'.  An 18" crown is not trivial.  For one thing it means slab
avalanche and they are inherently more dangerous that loose snow slides.  

Check out this video.  
http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=19995 

This crown in this one was perhaps twice 18", but the slide was
impressive.  The skier was very lucky to escape unharmed.  People often
discount the threat of avalanches in the east, but the above tree line
slopes such as the Presidentials and Mansfield's Chin have plenty and
deserve as much respect as anyplace in the west.  Jim B and I once saw a
slide on the Nose while skinning the Toll Rd. enroute to Teardrop.  Even
below treeline they can happen, for example last year's Meathead Films
tragedy somewhere near the lower reaches of Hellbrook.  (Sorry but I
forgot the young man's name.) 

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