Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Poster Wayne Pyle has passed.

I received word last evening that Wayne Pyle passed away on Friday (Aug 24, 2012). Upon asking whether I should post a note here, his son Mike wrote:

We would appreciate that a great deal. He definitely had a great affinity to Mt. Whitney and enjoyed the forums as well...living vicariously through everyone's adventures.

Wayne's major quest in the Sierra was to be able to identify all the peaks visible from any other mountain peak. He created detailed charts showing the precise direction and vertical angle of all the peaks visible from another. Along this line, he tried to identify the record distance one could see another peak from the top of Mt Whitney. (The record is written up somewhere in the forum.)

More specific to Mt Whitney hikers is his often used map image of the 97 switchbacks, which he meticulously counted and plotted on a map. When we established the Whitney webcams, Wayne was instrumental in identifying all the points and peaks visible in the webcam view.

Wayne moved to the east coast, but he kept in contact with our community. When the origin of the name of the Ebersbacher Ledges came up, Wayne did some research, and located Dale and Frances Ebersbacher, and even posted pictures from their first climb where Dale discovered the route on the ledges. Since Dale and Frances were living in North Carolina, he contacted them.


Wayne was a tremendous resource and a good friend of the forums. He will be sorely missed.

-L

I appreciate the resourcefulness of Wayne.

it seems fitting for me to quote from the mountaineering literature, as I am apt to do, but this one for Wayne. May he rest in peace:


…we realized again the uncertainty of all human endeavor and the relative permanence of the mountain
Robert Bates, in Houston and Bates
K2 the Savage Mountain pages, 255

I'll never forget the chance encounter with Wayne and his young (at the time) son Mike at The Notch. I had my nephew with me and had been up-and-down the Final 400 two or three times looking for some easy terrain that the kid could handle. Wayne offered to head back up and Matt's climb was completed.

Wayne and Mike lead us up thru what I've called Wayne's Chimney ever since.

This is very sad news to come home to. Deepest sympathy to Mike and the rest of the Pyle family.

Very sad to hear this. I often referred to his photos and maps. Condolences to his family.

Ahh... I always wondered where the name originated.

I had never met Wayne, but read so many of his posts over the years. My heart goes out to his family.

When I was trying to figure out the peaks of the San Gabriels as seen from my office, Wayne sent me a spreadsheet with precise data to help me out. I have never met him, but he reached out to help someone he never knew. What a great guy. We will miss him.

Brent N.

My sincerest condolences.

Sad news, my condolences to family and friends.

Condolences to his family and friends on this loss.

Was it Wayne who made that map image and had it linked to an Excel file? I enjoyed that and many of his other posts. Not to mention that I will always refer to the chimney on the MR as "Wayne's Chimney" because that's the way I first went up (thanks Richard).

Sad to hear of his passing.

May you see God’s light on the path ahead
When the road you walk is dark.
May you always hear,
Even in your hour of sorrow,
The gentle singing of the lark.
When times are hard may hardness
Never turn your heart to stone,
May you always remember
when the shadows fall -
You do not walk alone. ~ Irish Blessing

Wayne Member #151 , posts 715 on the new board. I have had many talks with Wayne over the years, his interest in mapping and geodetic surveying always sparked up a common bond. Wayne and Mike stopped by the Hostel during construction and we talked about the trips he made in the Sierra before moving East.

Last week another good friend was doing a speech in Southern California the topic of the speech was how Wayne had been a part in locating paintings by a famous artist.Several of the paintings were not easy to place from which area of the Sierra, I was ask who could help and the first person that came to mind was Wayne . This and the many mountains he located for people over the years added to the wealth of information on the board and settled several heated topics!
Yesterday was the 12th year after another good friend passed on. We had hiked together for ten years and his picture hangs in the store of us going up the Norht Fork. He had cancer and wanted to do the hike two days after a treatment then climb a major peak in Africa .

Live every day to the fullest never look back and say I should of....
I know that hardest times for the family is the next few weeks and may we help to make you stronger by knowing we all share in your loss but our lives were made richer by knowing Wayne for all these years.

well said Doug

http://piotrowski.smugmug.com/California-Mountains/Thor-Peak/June-2004/138729_h8mc2C#!i=5077412&k=VJoBi

Thank you Richard.

Louis Wayne Pyle II September 28 1946-August 25 2012

I was curious to learn more about Wayne so I googled Wayne Pyle Charlotte NC. The 3rd item down has info about the life and death of Wayne and some of you might want to google this to learn more as I did.

65 is way too early to die but what a life he lived in those 65 years.