Thanks to all the help I received here and on the Whitney Zone forums, my husband and I successfully summitted Whitney on the 5th! We did it as a 3-day hike, and needed each of those days, as a thunderstorm rolled in on the 4th - the lightning freaked me out, so we spent more time hunkered down in various places than in actually hiking, and it took us ELEVEN hours just to make the 6 miles to Trail Camp. Good thing we were fortified with a pancake from the Store! Doug was also so good to sign my book and to give my husband and me some great weather-watching tips.
The actual hike was harder than I expected, but we were fairly well-acclimated due to the suggestions I got here. I'd say that my biggest surprise was the sketchiness of the trail between Trail Crest and the end of the pinnacles - you call that boulder hopping a trail?!
We managed to miss Crazy Jack somehow - he must have blown past us on one of his secret routes on the way down on the 6th. Bummer - it would have been fun to see him there after getting so many great tips from Bets & him at the A16 Backpackers' Gear Swap. We saw 2 veterans just above Lone Pine Lake too, but after embarrassing myself by asking if we were at Outpost Camp, I had no intention of asking if either of them were regulars here!
Thanks again for all the patient help to this newbie! Hope to see you in the Sierras sometime - we've got the bug now!
