For those who don't want to read this novel:

1. Slow and steady wins the race. We eventually leap frogged most of the people who passed us.
2. Start early. Your brain doesn't register distance in the dark so the more you can cover at night the shorter the trip to the summit will feel.
3. Don't leave Trail Camp for the summit without 2-3 liters of water
4. The switchbacks are passable and can be done with poles. The existing ice axe holes are melting out and are getting loose. The trail is well kicked at the top, and the cables have 12-18 inches of exposed rock on the trail. Black ice is prevalent early in the morning, but can be avoided
5. Be prepared for the wind chill at Trail Crest and beyond. I could grate cheese on some of the goose bumps I saw on people in shorts.
6. If you feel lousy on the way down, just keep moving. Altitude sickness feels worse when you stop moving, and is made worse by dehydration.

I have to put this climb in context before going into the details. My wife, Darci, and I are climbing Mt Kilimanjaro in mid-August, and Whitney was to be our final test of our ability to do the highest mountain in Africa. I grew up mountain climbing in Colorado, but have a history of altitude sickness above 14,000'. I also suffered a hip avulsion fracture two years ago, which needed to be stress tested. My wife on the other hand has never been into mountain climbing, and I've been trying desperately to get her over the 14,000' mental block before going to 19,500'. We got blown off Quandary in Colorado last March, blocked by snow on the way to White Mountain Peak 3 weeks ago, and found ourselves with all of our eggs in the Mt Whitney basket. We've been sleeping in an altitude tent in preparation for Kili and also work out regularly. We are both athletic, but are in no way super heroes. Now onto the stuff you care about.

We started our climb at 1:20 am. After reading the recent trip reports I remained undecided about climbing the chute or the switchbacks, but we departed with the gear to do either. We had full rain gear, warm weather clothes, med kit, steri-pen, 3 liters of water, food, etc. My sole goal was to get my wife over the mental hurdle of climbing the mountain so doing as much of it in the dark when she couldn't see what was ahead of us was ideal. I set a slow and steady pace of about 1.4 miles per hour. We never stopped for more than 5 minutes at a time, and made great progress. The horizon started to reveal itself just about the time we were climbing the switchbacks above Mirror Lake. Before long we could make out faint outlines of the rocks and the snowfields. We stopped about three-quarters of the way up the switchbacks above Trailside Meadow to take off our headlamps and put on warm clothes. There were one or two areas where snow still covered the trail here, but it was so well kicked out that it was easy to get across.

We arrived at Trail Camp just before sunrise, where we made what would turn out to be a major mistake. We checked the level of our Camel Backs and thought that we had enough to go the rest of the way. No need to remind me how stupid this was because I was later reminded the hard way. Anyway, we caught the alpenglow on the peak, and I think my wife finally began to understand why people choose to climb mountains. This was a personal victory for me.

For my wife's mental sanity we decided to give the switchbacks a go vice climbing up the chute. The bottom third still has a few spots where snow hides the trail, but its been stepped out and its easy to make your way. The runoff comes down pretty steadily in this part and there was a good deal of black ice at 6:00am. We just followed a rule of "if you see water flowing you can step there. If it just looks wet don't step there because its ice." We never had any problems. Once past the bottom third, the trail was actually dry and free of snow. We crossed the cables quickly and without problem. There is about a 12-18 inches of exposed rock next to the cables and we scurried right across and up a few well-kicked steps at the end. We only had to cross the snowfield at the top, which was really no problem. The couple ahead of us did it with trekking poles, but we pulled out the ice axes so that I could teach my wife a mantra of being super safe (ironic since I opted not to top off the Camel Backs down below). We heard reports later in the day of people who turned around here, so it's obviously a measure of how comfortable you are with your own feet. My wife has never done anything like this and wasn't remotely nervous. I'm so proud.

We stopped at Trail Crest for pictures and to put on a jacket and gloves because the wind had picked up. It took us about two hours to make our way to the summit. The snowfield before the summit was also well kicked, and we did it easily with poles. This was about the time that I wished I had filled my Camel Back because I ran out of water. S&*%!! We made the top at 10:05 and in 8 hours and 45 minutes. I told my wife we couldn't stay long, though, because I knew the repercussions of running out of water here and was worried. After 15 minutes of pictures and registry signing we were off.

We passed a number of people on our way back to Trail Crest. Most of them woefully unprepared who were wearing shorts and carrying little more than a wag bag and water bottle. We never saw them again. I was dehydrated when we made it back to Trail Crest, which had resurrected some altitude sickness. We put on our helmets, microspikes, gaiters, and rain gear, and started down the glissade chute. I had taught my wife about glissading with the help of Freedom of the Hills and some great YouTube videos from the British Mountaineering Society, and we did a quick review before going down. The chute was extremely slushy, but when we did get going too fast we were able to self-arrest easily. Darci did amazing.

We got back to Trail Camp after 2 hours and 25 minutes. I was in bad shape, no doubt about it. My mouth was dry, my balance was off, and I was nauseous. We filled a Nalgene bottle of which I quickly drank half. My body was so dehydrated that it didn't take the water well, and my nausea increased. My wife, the newbie, came to my rescue and filled our Camel Backs while I lay prostrate and praying for death. Fortunately, I had the wherewithal to realize that staying there wasn't going to get us closer to home so we started down. Moving helped with the altitude sickness, and the water slowly made it's way into my system. Within an hour I was back to 80% and we were fine....and lucky!

The remaining decent from Trail Camp took us 4 hours and 5 minutes with stops to change clothes and take a few pictures. We made it to the car 15 hours and 30 minutes after we left, and with a new realization that my wife may actually be tougher than me. I'm sure I won't hear about it for the rest of my life.