Fellow Whitney climbers, meet Dale Ebersbacher:
This past week I received a surprise call from Dale Ebersbacher, for whom the Ebersbacher Ledges are named.
He was driving through Charlotte, North Carolina, and invited me to his RV. My wife, Suzanne, and I spent a fine, memorable evening with Dale and his wife of 60 years, Frances.
For two official octogenarians, Dale and Frances looked great. Dale looked slim and fit, without an ounce of fat. My wife took a photo of the three of us in their RV:
Dale appears to be quite the adventurer, with a loving wife who always wanted to be sure her husband was okay. What better way to be sure than to accompany him on his mountaineering exploits.
In 1951, Dale planned a mountaineering trip to the Alberta Rockies to climb three previously unclimbed peaks in that part of the world. One of his climbs, the first ascent of Mount Nelson, is written up
HERE.
The Ebersbachers did a lot of rock climbing in Yosemite, Tahquitz and other rock climbing areas in southern California.
Frances Ebersbacher was one of the earliest female climbers to scale the North Face of Mt. Whitney, which she did in July 1953. (Dale and Frances recalled that Ruth Mendenhall did the first female ascent of the North Face, but according to Ruth Mendenhall herself, she was preceded by Adrienne Applewhite and Marjorie Farquhar.) Looking back 54 years, Frances told me she was scared that day! She had never experienced such sheer exposure, but she is one brave lady.
For Dale, finding the Ebersbacher Ledges was nothing out of the ordinary, other than saving him and his fellow Sierra Club members the annoyance of bushwhacking through the thick willows in the North Fork drainage. He had no idea the ledges would be named after him, but for a lot of us who have used the ledges, we are mighty glad he found them.
Apparently Dale and Frances continued their mountaineering experiences into their 30s, before moving on to other entrepreneurial adventures, including motor-boating the inner coastal waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern seaboard for three years.
The Ebersbachers were nice to share some of their photos from their East Face climb in July 1953, which you can view
HERE. It was a most delightful experience meeting with the lively Ebersbachers this past week.
