On Tuesday I was finally driven mad by all the questions, "How many times have you climbed Whitney?" So I sat down and counted my log: 1, 2, 3...24! That's not too much actually. Think of how many times SP must have summitted by now after guiding here for 25 years! And this is only the second-most peak I've summited. First place still goes to Mt. Rainier, where I've summitted 49 times.
On Memorial Day weekend I climbed my 24th - and possibly last of the summer - Whitney summit via the Mountaineers Route with Bill. I'm completely un-impressed with my number of summits, but blown away by Bill's - he's 73, quite possibly the oldest guest I've guided to the summit! We camped with and followed Braden and Aurora, Randy, Olga and Gary.
By hiking in together, I was free to scramble around and play "photographer". I was able to get some great photos of the Eberbacher Ledges, arguably the crux of the approach and descent. And moonset over the mountains on summit day was really incredible - we seemed to hit just the right spot to enjoy sunrise and alpenglow. A great trip!
