Starshine is a narrative by one of the climbers of the first ascent of the ice flow down the North face of Whiteside Mountain in Western North Carolina, now famous as the route “Starshine.” It is Southeastern USA ice climbing history because the route has been repeated many times and is a must to do among today’s ice climbers. The route is written up in the American Alpine Club publication and other guide books and has been the subject of a story in the magazine “Rock and Ice.”
Truette Stubbs, the author and 1/3 of the ice climbing team in Starshine was born and reared in Atlanta, Georgia, has a degree in history from Emory University and has spent his professional life as a banker, real estate developer, property manager and broker. While in his 30’s he enjoyed high adrenalin sports such as parachuting, aerobatic flying, SCUBA diving, Harley Davidson Motorcycling, and mountaineering, rock and ice climbing. As Truette describes it he loved the rush of adrenalin when getting into a tough spot and then the joy of successfully resolving whatever was causing the fear. The heartbreaking event described in this book brought Truette and Brenda back together and they were married in September, 1978. After beginning married life, Truette began choosing safer past times. Brenda and Truette presently live in Midtown Atlanta with their Shih Tzu, Jake.