Sounds like I finished my almost-week of hiking in the Whitney area this past week just in the nick of time. I had planned a summit attempt for Thursday, 7/28 (to begin at midnight, since it was so hot during the day -- I usually hike in the area in late August/early September, not July); but intense smoke, just a few hours before my midnight start time the evening before (from the Lion's fire to the south of Whitney) ended up intervening, and I bowed out of my summit attempt in the interest of not inhaling copious amounts of smoke while also sucking air (still acclimating from Ohio).
CaT