That was a very well known and well tracked storm since it broke the record dry spring (during the last official drought) and unleashed thousands of lightning strikes from the coast to the mountains known as "The Northern California Lightning Series." It triggered massive forest fires all over the northern state. If someone headed out on an overnight trip (like Whitney) without being aware of and prepared for that huge event coming their way, then they just weren't paying attention.
I got my wilderness permit late in the afternoon on the day before the storm. If it was that well tracked, the rangers certainly didn't feel like warning us about upcoming storm activity or anything unusually big on the horizon.
We depended on the rangers and the forecasts available there. Nothing special was pointed out to us, definitely not a word about "a huge event." Nobody else on the trail that day seemed to be informed or concerned about a storm. It was the usual train of hikers heading up the pass. I can't speak for the runners, since they entered on the day of the storm, they could have had more current information. We entered the day before and hiked into the middle of Lyell Canyon without anything more than the obvious clouds building above us.
We had all the gear it took to survive, that's the point I was trying to make, and that things happen even when you don't expect them. I have had too many of these surprises in my life to want to gamble with weather.
Aluminized blanket when everyone is hypothermic not a good idea? We were in a tent with aluminum poles, which is about 50,000 times more aluminum than you will find on that blanket. Why would any of this matter when you're wet and freezing? We'd been playing the lightning roulette for an hour before we decided the hell with wet ponchos and set up the tent with shivering hands right on the trail (like several other groups of hikers near us). Water kept running through the tent, my sleeping bag soaked, that's when the blankets came out and they saved the day.
In hindsight, we probably should have kept going across the pass at the start of the storm, however, nobody told us anything about the size of this storm, so we expected it to blow through quickly like most of those 3pm storms in July do. Stuff doesn't always work out the way it should if you have limited information and have to make decisions on the spot. Running out and staying warm by moving fast isn't an option for children. Their core temp drops a lot earlier than those of adults.
Thing is, the kids didn't care one bit about the whole experience the next morning, and after drying out, we kept going for another 160 miles.
