I've stayed at the Winnedumah a couple of times when I lived on the East Coast and would trek out to hike Whitney. It was/is a neat old hotel. At the time I stayed there it had been purchased by a retired grocer and his wife, and a daughter managed it. There's an interesting plaque on the hotel wall detailing the Paiute legend of how the spire came into existence. Like any good legend, it involves the struggle between two men over a woman.
I've also climbed to the spire twice - not quite via the route Doug, Moosetracks, and others, but not too different. The approach I used was off the Masurka (sp?) Canyon Road. I ran off a few copies of a map I created from my GPS track and left them with Doug at the Hostel as he occasionally gets requests from guests who are interested in hiking to the monument.
I may have an electronic version available, so if anyone is interested they can PM me.
