After spending perhaps an hour and a half on the summit, the team made its way back down to Trail Crest.  Our packs were stashed nearby and after a brief rest, we began the arduous descent down the famous 99 Whitney switchbacks (JD counted them and got only 98... engineering accuracy).  John, Hal, and Tom form the lead team for the descent.  At this point, all the mystery is gone.  It's just slug it out down to our final stop at Outpost Camp some 6 miles and 3,000 ft (vertical) away.