Anyone remember any stories of solo hikers getting into trouble ON THE WHITNEY TRAIL? Let me repeat, ON THE TRAIL. Anyone?
I recall quite a few such stories, both from this site and the other one. It happens. Even to people who have climbed Whitney 100+. Or people who started out a day hike up Whitney with friends, but ended up lagging behind toward the end of the hike. Or a woman who experiences a seizure somewhere near Trail Camp (with no prior history of seizures), and happens to stumble into the campsite of a doctor, who stabilizes her and facilitates a helicopter rescue.
So, here's my thinking about solo hikers: the risk faced by the hiker depends on variables that are usually unknown to us. The fact that hiking Whitney solo may be "safe" for you does not mean that is safe for everyone.
If you are hiking Whitney and experience AMS, dehydration, fatigue, or cold, you may lack (or have reduced) capacity to exercise good judgment for yourself. In that case, it may be helpful to have someone there who can help you make good decisions. Who can help keep you calm if it is needed. Who knows you and your personality well enough to recognize a change in behavior that is cause for concern.
But if you are an experienced hiker, have good equipment, are familiar with the effects of altitude, have good skills, maybe even already know the mountain, then maybe you'll make good decisions if/when you find yourself solo and in trouble on Whitney, whether due to fatigue, exhaustion, dehydration, AMS, or something else. Maybe you'll recognize the situation sooner than would a less experienced/skilled/knowledgeable hiker, while the situation is still easy to manage. Maybe you'll identify a broader range of options, then would a less experienced/skilled/knowledgeable hiker. Maybe you'll have more options than would a less experienced/skilled/knowledgeable hiker because you made wise choices viz what is in your daypack. Put simply, maybe hiking Whitney solo is something that presents a reasonable risk, for you, due to all your knowledge, experience, skills, preparation, etc.
But, back to the disconnect.
We may tell a solo hiker, whose experience/skills/knowledge/equipment are unknown to us, yes, go hike Whitney solo, just turn around if you get sick. (Which assumes capacity to make such a decision, when the anecdotal evidence is that such capacity should NOT be assumed.) That person gets the benefit of the doubt. The hiker doing Whitney for the first time solo question has come up several times in the past, and so I am not thinking only of the recent thread, but also several that preceded it.
But the solo hiker who gets in trouble and hits the spot button, we may assume that person was a dolt and being irresponsible.
We seem, sometimes, to be a little quick to judge, is what I am saying, when someone gets into trouble, when again, we lack information about their experience/skills/knowledge/equipment/condition.
Well, people see these issues differently. That is what makes for a discussion board.
