I'll give a perspective that is somewhere between where you are and where Bulldog is.
I have yet to reach the Whitney Summit. In August 2008 I made it to trail crest and had to turn around due to the lateness in the day. Of the four who started, only two of us made it to trail crest. And I was pretty iffy since I got a nasty bout of AMS on the switchbacks (I had to drop elevation until I felt better and then proceeded back to Trail Crest). I did one warm-up hike to lone pine lake the day before trying to summit...and that was my acclimitization effort. I didn't spend any time at horseshoe meadows to get acclimated. Altitude sickness is real and I am doing everything I can to avoid it this time.
In November 2008, my (then) 9 year old son and I did a day hike to Lone Pine Lake.
In July of 2009, my son and aunt started out on a 4 day attempt (Portal to Lone Pine Lake, LPL to Trail camp, TC to Summit to TC, TC to Portal). We spent one night at LPL and then turned around due to stormy weather.
I'm doing the hike a week from today and I am doing it solo. And I am really looking forward to doing it alone. I like the idea of going at my own pace without worrying about slowing others down or having to worry about others.
A one day summit is a long grueling hike. A lot of people talk about the downhill being harder than they thought. For me, the downhill was a cakewalk. I kept a very nice pace and rarely needed to rest. But I was feeling the uphill on the switchbacks.
I'm taking two days this time so that I can take time to enjoy the views and explore if I want to explore and socialize if I want to socialize or screw around if I want to screw around. The point being, if you are looking to summit in one day you have to have a pretty focused mindset of putting one foot in front of the other.
Of course, for some of the regulars here, they can leave the portal after breakfast and be back shortly after lunch.
The biggest thing that I can recommend is to get properly acclimated. In 2008 my training wasn't that dedicated. And I had plenty of gas in the tank to complete the hike and I assure you that I am nothing special in the conditioning department. But the altitude sickness caused enough of a delay that it prevented me from summiting. And while I was sick, I was truly incapacitated. There wasn't a question of working through it and taking the pain, I seriously had no choice but to drop elevation quickly.
Last edited by tdtz; 08/31/10 10:38 AM.
