Wow, sounds pretty amazing. Do they let people hike it alone? Seems like everyone that does it has a guide, not that I wouldn't want one, just curious. Look's like you guys didn't get altitude sickness either.
I don't know if they let people hike it alone, and honestly, I don't know how you'd be able to bring enough gear to summit on your own. We had 11 people in our group and 97 "sherpas' that brought everything from camp to camp each day. You carried your own day pack with water, rain gear, etc and they would carry your additional bag with clothes and such as long as it weight less than 33 lbs. they would also haul the tents, cooking gear, food, water, etc. And while you're putting up the trail, they are pretty much jogging past you with 40-50 lbs of stuff on their back or head.
As for the altitude sickness, you take pills, but my wife an others in our group had some issues once we hit 15,000 ft. The climb itself isn't all that arduous or technical, but it's acclimating to the altitude is what makes it tough. There was a climber that died from a pulmonary edema about 8 hours before we summitted, though we found out after we reached the top. For me, I had no real issues. My wife said when we were at the summit, it felt like she had 2 heads, so we got her down pretty quick.
