Hello everyone, before I get started I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to share their strategies and wisdom with the group. I read through just about all of the topics and advice and I have to say it really helped out. That being said, I want to share my experience, covering all of the topics that I found so helpful in my research and preparation for this incredible hike. If anyone has any specific questions about my report or if I missed covering something just let me know.

I dayhiked via the main trail on 8/24/12. I am 35/male, and am fairly new to hiking. My first hike was 22 months ago, although since that time I have done many 15-20 mile, 5,000 foot elevation gain dayhikes. Nothing above 4,500 feet until last month, however. (I live near the Bay Area, and had not gone to the Sierra until last month).

Altitude Training

In July, I progressively started upping my elevation, first up to 8,800 on Half Dome, two weeks later up to 9,900 on Cloud's Rest, then the following week up to 13,000 on Mt. Dana. No problems except for some difficulty catching my breath but it would always return after a minute or two of rest. All of those hikes were day hikes, drive up to Yosemite in the AM, drive home after the hike was over. My last time at high elevation was 2 weeks ago at Mt. Dana, where a hailstorm turned me around at 12,250 ft.


Permit


I secured my Whitney day permit about two weeks ago by continually monitoring the permit website, and finally got lucky when a permit was suddenly available.

Acclimation Plan

So for the week of the hike (Friday was the hike) - Wednesday I drove up to Yosemite, and hiked to the summit of Tioga Peak, at 11,500 ft. From the trailhead it is only a 1,700 foot climb over a little less than a couple of miles. Nothing too hard to wear me down, but high enough to get some acclimation. I brought a book up to the summit and read for a couple of hours, then hiked down and drove on to Mammoth Lakes where I spent the night at 8,100 feet (motels for me, I need to be comfortable to sleep).....

Thursday I drove the rest of the way south to Lone Pine, got my permit around 10 AM, and then drove straight up to Horseshoe Meadows at 10,000 feet. I made sure to not do anything too stressful, so I stayed between 10,000 - 10,500 feet, covering 7.5 miles. I kept up a decent pace with my pack on - a little faster than 3 mph and felt really good. I then read for another several hours before heading down to my motel in Independence, which is only 15 minutes away from Lone Pine. It is an easy drive between Lone Pine and Independence, just be aware that Independence does not have as many shopping options (e.g. no grocery store)as Lone Pine. No problem, they did have a Subway so I just bought a couple sandwiches rather than some food from a grocery store.

The hike:
This was a solo hike. I probably go solo 75% of the time, and I carry a lot of safety items (locator beacon being the most important in case of emergency). I was on the trail by 4:30 AM, summit at 11:15 AM, and was on the road back home before 5:30

Water

Drank 2 liters of Powerade zero in my car before heading off, carried an additional 3 liters with me, along with 2 empty liter bottles to hold more for the last fillup at the switchbacks. I drink a lot so I am not saying everyone needs this much, this is just what I have always found works for me. I also brought a UV filter (maybe unnecessary) and electrolyte packets to mix in with the water. I wound up filling one liter at the water source number 4 (http://www.ridgenet.net/~rockwell/Whitney_water_trail.pdf), the north slope of Candlelight Peak, then filled 3 more liters at switchback 23. On the way down I filled 2 more at switchback 23. This was enough to get me back down. I probably carried more than I needed most of the trip. All told, I drank 2 liters in the car, then 8 more on the hike.

Problems

No trail problems, no water problems, brought a couple thousand calories so I was okay there. Only slight altitude problems, but not until I was on the descent. I was feeling pretty tired, which wasn't all that surprising, but once I got back down to about 11,500 feet I had a huge burst of energy that had me flying back down so there was something there. No wild animal problems, no trail work problems. The only weather problem was I forgot my sunglasses and did sunburn one of my eyes a little bit. Nothing too serious and its fine now but was really sensitive to light for about 24 hours.

Conclusion
I had the time of my life, and can't wait to come back again next year. Thanks again to everyone who helped an anonymous board lurker put together what turned out to be a fun, safe, and successful summit bid. Tons of pictures if you are so inclined at https://picasaweb.google.com/107173209992743952243/MtWhitneyAugust242012