First of all thanks to all the fellow hikers who shared information in this forum. It was very useful for me and also gave lot of confidence in taking up this hike.
1) Picked up the permit +WAG bag on 9/9 (Saturday). 2) Did a acclimatization hike up to Lone Pine lake after that. 3) Also started on AMS medication on Saturday Morning and took it till Sunday night. Didn't get any AMS symptoms during the hike. 5) Sunday (9/10) drove to Horse Shoe Meadows trailhead , did 1 mile of hiking and came back to Lone pine. 6) Monday Early Morning @12:30AM, started the hike and summited ~11AM. We were pretty slow so we started early to compensate that. The forecast was 60% rain & thunderstorm after 11am so we really wanted to summit before noon. 7) All the water crossing was passable without getting water into the shoes. 8) There is small patch of snow in the last mile to summit, just before the turn up to the hut. It was scary for me but with poles it was passable. Many other hikers were crossing it easily. 9) It started raining+hail once i got near the summit and was pretty cold. I didn't hear any thunder so just pushed towards the summit. 10) If i can change, one thing i would do is take less water. I carried 3 L water pouch + 1 Lt Nalgene bottle + 1 gatorade. There is ample water along the way so i would cut down to say 2Lts max. 11) We are a group of three and other two hikers could reach trail crest only around noon. By the time they were close to the summit they started hearing some thunder and others advised them to turn around. So unfortunately they didn't summit. 12) From JMT junction to the summit, crossing all those boulders was very challenging to me and took all my energy. Last half mile, i was walking like a zombie. 13) On the way down rain + thunder storm started once i crossed the log bridge after Lone Pine Lake, it was pretty scary. The thunderstorm really pushed me and last three miles i did at super pace and reached the portal around 7PM.
Sorry if it is too verbose, really excited to summit Mt Whitney.
