Ponzy,
I agree with the acclimatization comments. I was actually creating galleries of my 'acclimation hikes' to share here when Dr. Lankford made his comments!
How many days are you going to be in the Whitney area? Do you have an acclimation plan?
(
edit: I started writing this post 8 hrs ago, left for a couple hours, came back and edited/uploaded the pics, and posted it before seeing your post from this morning)
I try to do something different every year. Here are some examples:
2011 - We spent some time at Tom's Place and hiked in the
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest .
2012 - We spent the day at Horseshoe Meadows and hiked to
Trail Peak 2013 - Part of the group were from the east coast, so we spent more time at elevation. We spent a day and night near the
Little Lakes Valley, then spent the following day/night near
Horseshoe Meadows/Cottonwood Lakes. We also spent a few hours hanging out/napping at Outpost camp (10,600 ft) before the summit attempt. One of the hikers had spend some time skiing in CO a few months prior to the hike. He had AMS symptoms there and didn't ski as much as he hoped. He had no AMS symptoms on the hike.
2014 - My father-in-law is flying out from NH. We are planning on staying in Mammoth 2 nights and doing some dayhikes near the area, then will stay overnight at Lone Pine Lake or Outpost Camp.
Spending the night at Whitney Portal Campground and/or Horseshoe Meadows may be the closest/easiest options for you, but if you are interested in exploring other areas, the members here will give you lots of ideas.
