I should note that when I said the "three things I changed" hydration was something I did correctly on the first failed summit hike.
Besides randomness I rank the changed factors as
1. Breathing technique
2. Diamox
3. A little more rest (even though both involved a red eye flight from Alaska)
I could be wrong and perhaps Diamox made all the difference in the world. I just don't know. I'll probably never know because any future high altitude hike I'll probably default to using Diamox. And it's likely I'll never have time for proper acclimation.
