Actually they spent an unplanned first night near Whitney-Russell Pass, this apparently caused by their continuing west past Upper Boy Scout Lk, instead of turning south before reaching the lake.
Next morning, instead of retreating, they tried heading up the north side of Whitney, which is pretty treacherous. The group could go no furthere, but the leader then tried (and apparently succeeded) to continue up.
The rest of the group was able to get back down to the W-R pass, take the use trail that heads between Iceberg Lk and Mt Russell (it traverses the area just west of Whitney-Russell), and they were able to descend to Iceberg, where other hikers led them down to Whitney Portal.
Obviously the turnaround time guidelines were ignored, but eventually the rest of the group did indeed turnaround and were safe.
