I'm Byron Ward and live in Southern California's High Desert. I have a four-person overnight permit reservation for the Whitney Zone for Sunday, 17 June, to Monday, 18 June. I will be going with my longtime after work hiking/climbing partner, and our plan was for one or two of her sisters from Oregon to join us. We just found out that neither can make the trip, so right now it's just the two of us, and my wife has a problem with that. "Trust" isn't an issue- I've been happily married for over 30 years. Going one-on-one on an overnight trip with another woman goes against my wife's sense of propriety, however, and I respect that. So I am looking for one (female) or two (male-female or female-female) partners to join us on this trip. We will be taking the standard route and will be staying overnight at the standard (12,000') camp. This will be my fifth trip up Whitney (others were in 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2008). I also have experience climbing other 14,000'+ peaks, including Rainier in 2006 and Denali last year. If you are interested in joining us, please contact me at blanor@aol.com. I would prefer partners from Southern California so we have the opportunity for a prep hike or two in the San Gabriel or San Bernardino mountains, but at this fairly late date I'm flexible.

Good luck Byron! A few years ago, I hiked a week on the JMT with another woman, while my wife and my hiking partner's husband watched our progress via the SPOT website. Fortunately for me, everyone was fine with the setup.

I am hoping someone will join you on your trip. In fact, anyone else going the same dates who already have permits could maybe join you and make it a group success.

I feel your pain, m'brother. A friend wants me to semi-guide her up Whitney at some point, but I have to track down others to go with us out of respect for the lady.

Little does she know, we're all just going to make out in one big sleeping bag made for 3-4 people.

whatever happens on the mountain, stays on the mountain.

Again, I'm hurt. Still waiting on that invite...