I too summited Whitney on July 8th and got stuck in the storm while on the switchbacks. Our group summited at different times, my boyfriend and I being the first two at 10:15am. We knew the weather was going to turn so we left at 12 when we ran into the rest of our group 5 min from the summit. We returned with them. My sister was the last to summit at the same time as the the girl who wrote the aforementioned blog and her two friends. We heard thunder and I apologized to my sister for not letting her enjoy the summit and we all started down, a storm at 14,000 ft is not to be messed with. The two girls who were with the blog girl knew it was dangerous and told her multiple times to please leave with them; she rudely refused. As we all hiked down they waited for her MULTIPLE times for long periods of time. With all due respect she should have never continued after getting AMS and a picture on a summit is not worth risking your own life or that of your friends.
All of us made multiple mistakes: not setting a turn around time for my sister, waiting on the summit past my own turn around time, and not bivouacing during the storm. We wanted to get down, and down fast. Lessons were learned and it is important to take responsibility for our own actions.
