I've gotten a lot from reading all the posts here, so I think it's only fair to share some up-to-date info as I completed Whitney yesterday.
After hearing so much about the importance of acclimating, I arrived and stayed in Lone Pine Monday night. Tuesday morning at 6am I drove up to the Portal and checked in to two of the first-come, first-serve campsites since we had a total party of 10 arriving that afternoon. Even at that elevation, I could feel the altitude. At about 10am, I did an acclimation hike up the trail to Lone Pine Lake (10,000'). I highly recommend doing that, as you don't need a permit until after the lake.
I then drove down and picked up my rental crampons from Elevation and met up with my friends as they had just arrived to town. We did some more shopping, then headed back up the mountain and set up camp.
We walked up the trail for 30-min in one direction, then turned back to make sure we could get back at the Whitney Portal store by 7pm, the time they stop taking orders for burgers. It was another good acclimation hike. After that, we met up with the others, sat by the campfire and then hit the sack.
Although we had ten people, there were essentially three groups: Three wanted to do single-day, three wanted to do two-day (me), and four wanted to go as far as they could (perhaps to Trail Camp) with no plan of summiting.
Since I was in the 2-day group, we didn't have to get up too early. First day plan was only to reach Trail Camp, six miles in. We left sometime after 8am. My pack weighed 37lbs, including water. We took our time, stopping for lots of photos on the way. As we ascended two of our party of ten were coming down due to altitude sickness. They had left at 4am. One of them actually was sick at Lone Pine Lake (10,000') and the other had made it to ~11,000' and was throwing up. Too bad for them to have it kick in so fast. They had arrived the latest in the evening and in my view didn't have sufficient time to acclimate.
Going to Trail Camp, there are several places you will need to walk in the snow. Just follow the other footsteps and you'll be fine. No need for crampons all the way to Trail Camp, although you definitely want to have hiking poles as they keep you balanced on the slippery surfaces.
We camped at Trail Camp, another perfect place to do some acclimating. Make sure to have your food secured in the bear canister to protect from the ground animals running around trying to steal people's food. Do NOT leave any food in a bag or they will eat right through it.
At this point, do an inventory check to make sure you have plenty of food and warm clothes to last. We had to "save" a couple of dayhikers that summited way too late (~4:30pm), took hours to just get down the chute and then it was basically dark. Between the different campers, they had to be given water, food and clothes, plus ultimately share the tents of other campers. The story could have turned out much worse.
The next morning, we got up at 5am with a target leave time of 6am, which we missed by 15-20 minutes. By then the sun was already heating the air, not what we expected. We were prepared for freezing cold, but it was the opposite. We started the walk to the chute.
The bottom line is right now you definitely need crampons and ice axe. The switchbacks from there up to Trail Crest are still impassable, however getting better. We met someone that actually was able to do them, however everyone else we talked to didn't. The only way up is the ice chute, to the right of the switchbacks. You DEFINITELY need to have some skills to get up and down. Going up is very difficult and plan to spend at 1.5-2 hrs to get up. No room for mistakes here. Very serious stuff. Same is true coming down. Make sure you get trained on the proper way to use your ice axe BEFORE going down or you'll become a statistic. After reaching Trail Crest, you will not need the crampons/ice axe anymore, however keep your gators on as you will pass a couple more snowy areas and you don't want your pants getting wet.
At the top of the chute we "recovered", packed our axes and crampons and moved on. A beautiful view on the other side, but altitude was definitely kicking in. At this point expect to be walking slow. The air is thin. If you speed up even slightly you will start gasping for air. Find a rhythm that works for you. I was walking to the "ABCs". Don't walk fast, then stop. Simply keep going with a slow pace.
Although the books say it's 1.9 miles to the summit from there, it seems like it takes an eternity and definitely seems much further than that. Again, take your time. Enjoy the scenery along the way, anything to take your mind off the thinning air. After a walk along a long snow field, we turned up to the right and out of the snow. At that point, the trail wasn't too steep. We walked another 20-min and then there was the shack!
Upon summiting, we signed the log book, hung out and got some awesome pics. My friend had brought his ukulele, so there he stood at the peak playing it. It was awesome!
From there, we headed down. It seemed so easy in comparison. It was now time to go down the chute. This is where it became interesting for me. My friends and I spent quite a bit of time reviewing how to glissade down, which is basically sliding down on your butt, while using the handle of the ice axe to slow you down. Although my friends picked up the skill quickly, I was having a hard time with it and was petrified the whole way down. This can be very, very dangerous if you're not prepared. You can pick up speed so fast that you lose control and eventually fly out in to the rocks (as has happened before). I cannot stress enough how dangerous this portion is.
After I got through that, going down was basically the reverse of going up, but without stopping for all the pictures. Definitely a lot easier on the way down, but with a sore body!
We wrapped up the day with burgers at the Mt Whitney Restaurant in Lone Pine. We were so happy to have all come back safely.
