I've heard of a mountain lion in the Whitney Zone just once, and I wasn't quite sure if the guy was joking or not. A little scary really. Only two critters I fear on hikes, mountain lions and ticks.
All those people knew about the sick kid and mountain lion and did nothing? Summit fever much?
Thumbs up for helping those two out. You should have plenty of good karma to get you up to the summit in style in August.
The thing that I found amazing is that only two people from outpost camp responded to their cries for help. There's no way that only two of us heard them. They were quite loud. I'm less surprised about the sick kid part. When I found out that Maxwell was not getting better by descending, I took it very seriously. If it wasn't for what I have learned here on WZ and WPS and the fact that I had altitude sickness before, I'm not sure that I would have taken it as seriously either. I think that most people think of altitude sickness as what you get when you are a kid and go to Mammoth to go skiing and feel a little crappy. The mountain lion was the most sensational part of situation, but once we were in camp, I was far more concerned with Maxwell's condition.
