it is definitely possible to hike the trail over the wkend, but if we have decided to do that, we would not get any sleep at all. I called the mt whitney visitor center last thursday and arranged for night box pick up, so they have put our permits in the night pick up box and given me the passcode for the lock. If we wanted, we could have just drive straight to the mt whitney visitor center from LA/SD, pick up the permit from the night box and hike the trail on sat morning, say around 3am. That would have given us a much better chance to summit, but quiet honestly, both of us didn't feel comfortable hiking the trail without getting any sleep. safety first.
instead, my travel partner didn't feel like he can drive all the way from sd to lone pine, and hiking the trail without getting much sleep. personally, when i arrived in ridgecrest, i didn't really have the stamina to conquer mt whitney w/out getting much sleep either, even though on the back of my mind, i was hoping that i could. so thats what happened, if you really want to know.
as for the 5-6 hrs hiking time, i knew it wasn't realistic, but i guess on the back of our mind, we were just hoping we can summit within 5-6 hrs. Descending 11mi in 5-6 hrs is probably a feasible task, but when you are going up, considering the high elevation, and the fact that you have to constantly walking in the upward motion, your walking speed will be slowed down quiet bit.
