Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Wayne Pyle passing

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 Florida, he contacted them and they visited, and took the picture here:


Wayne's caption for this picture:

I never met Wayne, but over the years we emailed and worked together on Sierra-related projects, and he became a respected friend. I will miss him, and his passing is a loss to our community. Rest in Peace, Wayne. Thanks so much for all your help throughout the years.

Edit: This notice is also on the WPSMB site.   (Link)