A nice picture view to the west (into Sequoia National Park) after finally making the ridge leading to the summit (about 5000 feet gained, about 1000 more to go).
 

Here is a trip report that I sent my father by email:

[...] The next day we drove first to Death Valley - the lowest point in the
lower 48 (-282 feet). I hadn't appreciated how pretty it was there, sand
dunes, painted desert, surrounded by high mountains (up to about 11,000
feet). The average daytime high in August is 113 at Furnace creek (the
visitor center), and supposedly a bit hotter at Badwater, the actual
lowest spot. I didn't see a thermometer when we were there, but can
believe it was that hot. Climbing out of the valley we had to turn the
Van's A/C off at times to keep the van's engine from overheating.

From there we drove to a campground at about 8500 feet at Whitney
portal, about a mile or so from the actual trailhead. This was car
camping, not backpacking. We had a very pleasant dinner (a couple of the
lads made a spaghetti dinner) and turned in early.

Up the next morning at 4:30 am, broke camp, had breakfast, and drove to
the trailhead and started walking. The first rise took us to just below
treeline and past some nice waterfalls to a flat area with some lakes
and trees surrounded by high walls. The next rise took us to an area
with some small lakes above treeline, where we stopped and had lunch.
The marmots were very bold - I've only seen them in the rocks before,
here they came right up to you begging for food. I was still feeling
pretty strong here (about 6 miles in and 3000 feet up).

The next section was pretty, but fairly tedious. About 100 switchbacks
up through a notch in the ridge. The altitude was quite noticeable here
in that a relatively small amount of exertion could be quite tiring
(another interesting fact is that you could breathe quite hard with each
step without getting dizzy - less oxygen in the air).

From there it was another couple of miles and another 1000 feet or so of
gain to the ridge. There was actually a bit more scrambling than I
expected here, and there were a couple of places where there was a
pretty sheer drop off on both sides. Anyway, we all made it to the top
where we had a nice break and took some pictures. About 8.5 hours, 11
miles, and +6000 feet to the top. It was moderately windy, but not too
cool - probably 50 or even more. Not a cloud in the sky all day.

It was on the walk back where the amount of height we gained really
became obvious. On the way up everything was new and interesting, but
the way back just kept going, and going, and going, ... We got back to
the car after 13.5 hours on the trail. It was a long day, but all of us
were did well. It was hard, but no harder than many a backpacking day
(our daypacks were fairly light, whereas when backpacking I often have a
very heavy pack).

We drove for a couple of hourse to Barstow, and then drove back the next
day. A good time was had by all.