I haven't hiked Mt. Whitney in about 5 years for obvious reasons including the freeway traffic on the trail and the fact, I've done it twice. I noticed someone had some extra permits for this Sunday about a month ago on a hiking board and tried to get one but out of four openings, I was number five. I assumed that this was the end of it, until I got an e-mail on Thursday that one person had cancelled and would I like to go? I knew I couldn't get up there until Saturday night and wasn't sure how that would work out for reasons such as no acclimation and no sleep to name two. I decided what the hell let's see how it plays out.
I left my house at 10:15 PM and got to the Whitney Portal at 1:40 and tried to sleep for two hours since the hike was starting at 4. That proved completely unsuccesful and instead met the group at 4. Two of the hikers were taking a more moderate pace then my own so I paired off with the other hiker. I lost him before Lone Pine Lake but he caught up to me by Bighorn Park. Climbing the rocks and steps he fell behind for the remainder of the hike. My pace up to Trail Camp was really solid and I was hoping that my aspirin popping regimen would keep the altitude from bothering me. My pace up the switchbacks while not great was still promising. From Trail Crest it was another story, I got a bit punch drunk and my feet were not moving exactly where I wanted them to and I just couldn't get enough air. My legs were fine it was my lungs that were betraying me. The final section had a nice snow crossing and I made it to the top in a still respectable 5:20.
I chilled out on top, waiting for my partner for about 45 minutes but he never showed, he ended up getting vertigo near the Needles and turned around. I made my way back down meeting the other three hikers all at the same place. I noticed two groups with people that had varyings cases of AMS which was kind of scary. My legs were surprisingly strong and other then a stop at Trail Camp to filter water, I did not really stop until I got back to the trailhead. The whole hike took about 10 hours and 40 minutes.
From there I changed, waited for the other hiker, and had some cold drinks from my freezer. It was then time for the little more then three hour drive home to get there for dinner at 7, for a wild 20 hours with virtually no stop.
Lessons learned you can manage just about anything if you're in shape and have determination. I did everything wrong for this hike, no sleep, no acclimation, and no 5K+ gain hikes to prepare, and really had minimal difficulties other then the last two miles. I might have to go back and see how fast I can do this with the proper preparation.