Thanks saltydog, that is awesome! That might work out perfectly for us then, and we would have much more control over the dates since it seems like it is pretty easy to get permits from Road's End. Plus we'd get a chance to acclimate before we attempted Whitney, and also will have lighter packs than we would if we started a long trek from there.
We'd just have to convince a kind and trusting soul to meet us up there, possibly coming from another direction..
Might be hard to coordinate a meet-up precisely - we would probably have to try to find someone who was planning to hike up on the same day already to make it realistic. Or, ask(bribe) a random stranger on the top to do the 5-min online process to get ordained right on the spot (I think I read there is some cell phone coverage up there?)
