On the summit     Joe at the top of the 9th pitch     whitney-ef-joe-candy_9.jpg

Over the years we have done a lot of trips with Joe Maher and Candy McNulty from Reno. each time Joe pushes Candy a little more and she comes through with style and aplomb. We did the Venusian Arete on Temple Crag a couple of weeks ago and this time it was off to Whitney for the east face. We decided to make this three day trip. it is possible to climb and hike out in the same day, but it makes for a long day with no time to relax.
So we hiked in on Day One and camped at Iceberg Lake. Climbing day was a 6.00am start, arriving at the base of the climb at 7.00am. We climbed on one rope, halving it for the tricky sections and running out near full rope lengths on the easy ground. It all went just too smoothly and we were on top at 1.00pm. The days were wonderfully warm and the nights as perfect as they come with not a breath of wind and with no moon the stars shone brilliantly all night long. Typical of Joe he brought in a bottle of champagne – a full one this time. So with bubbly, crab, tomatoes, avocado and brie we celebrated great climb that could not have gone better.
Refreshed after a good nights sleep we headed back to the trailhead on Day 3 to the ever popular Whitney Portal French fries.
Next up is Matterhorn Peak and in August Joe and Candy have a trip planned to the Tetons to try the Grand Traverse. Good luck to them.

Camp at Iceberg Lake whitney-ef-joe-candy_24.jpg