Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Candlelight Peak, 3 July

Four of us climbed Candlelight Peak from Meysan Canyon, then descended to Bighorn Park and hiked out the Whitney trail. I had my INF radio, and listened in on three separate SAR operations in progress in the general area that afternoon and early evening.

A fourth potential one came when we encountered a young lady (Suzanne) in pain, with her knees having essentially given out on the long descent from Whitney's summit. We did several things to help--including carrying her at one point--and she was able to get down to the Portal on pretty much her own steam. From our point of view, it wasn't a big deal; but it clearly was to Suzanne.

The delay caused us to finish in the dark; we missed burgers at the Whitney Portal Store; and I knew we wouldn't get home until after midnight. But the hug, below, made it all worth while.

The pictures provide the details. Also see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSj9uurIJFg



Afterthought: We used a rope to aid in the descent of the top part of the chute to Bighorn Park (pictures 40 - 50), but I'm not sure it's a good idea. It does limit the consequences if you happen to slip, but it prevents you from paying full attention to selecting the best hand and footholds while descending. I've been up and down that route around a dozen times, and only used a rope the last two. I don't think I'll bother with it from now on.

Terrific job helping her. Sorry you missed the burgers but as you said it was absolutely worth it. The look in her eyes says it all.

Impressive down climb off Candlelight, that looks like a lot of fun (at least until you get to the scree).

Lots of activity up there. Let's hope all the operations turned out ok. Again, great work up there. Happy 4th.

Great job, my friend!

Maybe too far north, but there was a missing climber in the Split Mountain area this weekend. He went missing on July 2nd. Part of his group was in there looking and waiting for him when we were headed up on July 3rd. They had reported him missing to the authorities. We didn't see him on the way to Split, but we did see what looked like boot tracks going down toward Tinemaha Creek - it's hard to tell if they really were from that distance. Does anyone know if that climber was found? I hope so.

Did you mean June 2nd or July 2nd, Kathy?

Kevin - I mean July 2nd - time sure does fly by as you get older - I forgot it was July already. I fixed the other post. The guys climbing partners were gone when we hiked out yesterday and we didn't see any sign of a search going on, so I'll bet the missing climber (Jeff) was found.