I have pics around here somewhere to prove it! I was asking about the creeping death going up the tree, and then it just died. I'm not that familiar with the death stages of white pine, but the smaller branches lost all their structure. Nothing really there holding it together. I guess the stem was the same, but it was thick enough where I didn't feel unsafe, though I did take bigger tops than I had planned from the ground.
Apparently it was bark beetles. That's what the folks here said when I posted a pic of the critters.