As it turned out I saw the sick lady and her husband in the parking lot back at Whitney Portal and they didn't recognize me without my glacier glasses and baclava. I went up and spoke with them and they acted as if nothing had happened. The lady clearly had altitude sickness and the change in altitude had changed their perception of the situation. There were several places along the way down where I saw her almost fall to serious injury or death and she had no clue because she was so sick. I was disgusted with her husband. I would never leave a stranger or my wife like that.

I was feeling sick up there also. I barfed right outside the summit hut, but that's what you get when you go quickly from sealevel to 14k+ feet in 2 days.

In contrast to that trip, the next year I went back and climbed mt. russell which is just a tad smaller than Whitney and just to the Northeast and it was an awesome uneventful trip. The weather can matter so much. I did use the soda stove on that trip and every trip since and have never even bothered to install a new o-ring on the MSR. It's just sitting in the garage.

If Doug wants me to I would be happy to write something up.