My partner and I made it to the summit on Saturday 6/9 on our day hike. Started out from portal at 3:45am, 10 hours later we were at the summit, total hike time was 16 hours flat. We took it slow to acclimate and had very little symptoms of altitude sickness. Neither one of us had climbed that high before. We did not use any special equipment beyond trekking poles and caution. Extra care was taken at the cables and the snow field near the top. It was a glorious day! Thanks to everyone for providing tips and reports from earlier trips. I've been reading these boards for over year hoping for my turn to summit and all the research paid off.
First summit of Half Dome (cables down) May 18th, 2012.
First summit of Mt. Whitney (day hike) June 9th, 2012.
I'll take the rest of the summer off now.
Happy Trails!
"If you're gonna be stupid, you've got to be tough."
