Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board 2019 Lottery

USFS news release
The Mt. Whitney Lottery, the process which awards both day and overnight hiking permits of the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, has been postponed.
Typically, the lottery begins February 1 through www.recreation.gov. However, the recently awarded contractor for this site was working with the Inyo National Forest to develop the online protocol for the lottery. This work was delayed during the shutdown.
The forest and the recreation.gov are working to get the lottery functional and anticipate that it will start sometime in mid to late February. The new date will be announced when the details are finalized.
The Whitney lottery addresses the overwhelming demand to complete a hike to this popular destination that draws mountaineers and hikers from throughout the world. Mt. Whitney is the southern terminus of the John Muir Trail and a part of several popular loop hikes in the Sierra Nevada.
Thank you for your patience while this work is completed.

I guess the leafblower at the district office is broken. Oh well, there's always 2020...

Noticed on the Rec.gov site this statement.. Is this different from the past... Is this route subject to the lottery
quota system ? What is the process for securing a valid permit.
"Mt Whitney Trail permit is not valid for the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek approach to climbing routes like Mountaineers Route, East Face, East Buttress, or Mt Russell."
Thanks to all for your input.
Happy Hiking
Rick

Rick,

I do not think that this is different from the past. On the Rec.gov site the context of this quote is under the heading of permits for "Overnight-Mt Whitney Trail." That is, if you have one of the 60 overnight permits for the Main Trail, you are not allowed to hike .9 miles up the MT and then head up the North Fork for an overnighter (and possibly some activity on the climbing routes). There are just six reservable permits a day for overnighters up the North Fork.

If you can not snag a North Fork permit for an overnighter (with say the goal to climbing the EF the next day ), consider the following legal option: Obtain the easier MT overnight permit. Hike up the MT to Mirror Lake. Leave the Trail there and scramble up to Dog Pass on Pinnacle Ridge. Drop down and rejoin the North Fork route just past Girl Scout Lake. I have not crossed over there, but the Thompsons say it is class 2, as their dog made it over with them.

Jim

. Overnight permits started in the early 70's and 1997 day permits for the Main Whitney Trail was added to control the over use of the trail, The overnight permit was required for the North Fork ( with a quota) but no day permit .Several years ago the the North Fork was added to the Whitney Zone day permit , this cleared up the condition that before some non experienced hikers would take the North Fork and not feel safe going down that way and exit the main trail,Get it if you can go down without a permit........

The details of each permit is confusing if you don't understand all the conditions, each permit is different
Think:
Day permit Whitney Zone as one
Overnight Whitney Zone (but not the North Fork) as another
North Fork as another option
Then add the JMT/PCT/HST and all other entry/exit points that Whitney area sees each with a quota that starts somewhere!

OK so now to Ricks question and Jim answer yes as of last year 6 reserved in the North Fork overnight and 4 walk in permits a day , 100 day Whitney Zone permits,and 60 overnight.


Climbers most often do the face routes as day climbs so now you are required to have a day permit.

When the REC site is active read all the details before you select the permit you want,I thought what I saw last Oct/ Nov was better than other rollouts of new contractors which always takes a few clean ups.

Doug and Jim,
Thanks for the input. See you this
summer... Best Regards,
Rick

What kind of dog?

Poodle

"Poodle Pass" sounds better. Now it's on my list for this summer.

I'll need to borrow the dog, though, to show me that Class 2 route. The last time I went over Pinnacle Ridge, I found the east side to be somewhat beyond that rating...

The amazing part is that the dog kept it class 2 by walking on its hind legs the whole way---and didn't take off after a single marmot. It's true; I read it in Ripley's.

I heard that Ripley collaborated with Secor on the first edition of The High Sierra: Pups, Passes, Tails.

No,I was in the second AKA as The Book of Corrections.

Yep. Any dog worth its salt will have that on the bookshelf next to Mountaineering: The Fleadom of the Hills---both thoroughly dog-eared...