Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Permits needed 2-4 people Whitney MR

Well, like so many unfortunate others, none of our peeps got a permit for this season. We were hoping to climb Whitney MR in late June/July. I'm posting this in hopes there is better than a snowballs chance in hell someone has room on their ticket.

A little background on us...we are experienced hikers and have no troubles so far up to 12K+. None of us have climbed Whitney before but are all capable. For sure will be at least 2 guys but possibly up to 4 people total (3 guys and 1 girl). Ages are mid 30s to early 40s. All easy going laid back and would be super appreciative of someone letting us ride their ticket this year. Of course we will pay for any applicable fees associated with registration.
PM me if you have room. Will be glad to answer any questions.
Thanks!

P.S. - Participation is eligible for Karma bonus miles!

I realize this isn't what you asked, but you should have a very good chance of scoring walk-in permits if you avoid the weekends. The Visitor Center usually has left over permits on weekdays from no-shows and cancellations.

Another option would be to get an Inyo permit from Kearsarge Pass exiting Mt Whitney if you all have 4 days to work with and would like to experience part of the JMT and Forester Pass. Remember, just because there are hiking permits available for Kearsarge, you must obtain the Mt Whitney exit permit.

Recreation.gov

There are so many days open in June , July and August including weekend. Did you look at website recently.

Thanks everyone for your input! I may not be looking at the recreation.gov site correctly. When I select "overnight visiting Mt. Whitney" via "North Fork of Lone Pine" there are no slots available. Am I doing this wrong?

And I forgot to add we are planning at least 1 overnight and would be really excited for 2 nights. If we want 2 nights this would be tough to get just walking in right?

We are open to other routes. Thinking we have 4 days at least. Will look into that other way on the JMT. Thanks!!

Also looking at Mt. Sill or another peak possibly. But Whitney is our first choice.
Thanks again!!

If you are able to get overnight permits you can adjust your exit date to however many nights you want to spend on the mountain. You do not need more than one permit. The website defaults to one night but you can go in and edit it after you confirm your permit. I had to call and ask about this. I would check the rec.gov site everyday. We did not win the lottery and every morning I would check the site. One morning there were 12 available around the date we wanted and I got 5 permits. Then last week we had friends say they would like to go and I just kept checking the site everyday and multiple times when I could and 4 more popped up for our dates so I was able to grab 2 more slots for my friends. So just because they are not available now they just might appear another day. From what I have read too if you have a few days to play with you will most likely be able to get walk up permits that were never claimed. This will be my second summit. last year I did as a dayhike and could not even enjoy the beauty of the mountain. This year we are spending 2-3 nights on the mt to hike, explore, and fish before the summit. Good luck!

I have 5 spare permits for a backpacking trip at the end of June (6/20-6/28) Going from Onion Valley/Kearsarge Pass to Horseshoe Meadows with a visit on Day 4 to Mt Whitney.


It's kind of long, but I just wanted to throw that out there!

Thanks Amie! We are thinking the same too in terms of time spent on the mountain. Sure we could poss do it in 1 day but that's not the point for us. Will keep checking the site too.

SB thanks for the invite! I'll send you a PM.

Looks like Snack's trip is going to be too long for us this year. Thanks tho!

TJ, Another option would be to hike via the Main Trail. If you want to check this out you could try searching for the Mt. Whitney Trail (JM35) as shown below. There are few options at this time, but if you continue to check rec.gov openings will pop up. As mentioned, with a couple of week days to play with you are nearly assured a permit by simply going into the visitor center (Lone Pine) and checking for cancellations.

The North Fork route has fewer permits available, and guess more difficult to obtain a permit via "walk in".

Thanks for the great info John! We had considered the MT but really didn't want to deal with the crowds. We are still considering it tho.

If you are considering the North Fork of Lone Pine, Mountaineers Route, get Doug's paperback "Mountain Lore From the Whitney Store" and take special note of the Mountaineers Route chapter... it is no stroll in the park route (even though Sierra Gator did it 3 times in 24 hours!)
Also, read through the Mountaineers Route blog on this message board.