Thanks Steve it worked! I went up Tuesday so very lucky on the weather. Planned to get up in 8 hours and walk/run down in 5:30. So my 4AM start made sense. I came in overly confident as I had 3 prior one day successes with no trouble. This time I was very well conditioned and expected a great day. Took me 10.5 hours, so I was up top very late at 2:30PM. I had a modest fall and hurt my lower back just before the summit. This led to a slow walk with a lower back spasm. This also led to a water shortage with the longer descent. Some great people shared some water with me which was needed and appreciated. First and last time I'll put myself in that position. Learned new respect for the mountain and the potential that trouble can take place quickly. I had the gear to sleep on the mountain but I figured my back would be worse in the AM so no reason to stop walking. There were others out there suffering that were still far from the Portal after my 2AM arrival. I hope they are all OK. I'm retired for a while. Thank you again for your guidance.
