Sean, here's what the Inyo N.F. people sent me last year:

Quote:
YES, finally, at 10:00 am today, March 27, we reached the bottom of the lottery box.

6023 applications were sent to the 2009 Mt Whitney lottery
3638 reservations / 2043 unsuccessful
The charging of credit cards, and successful mail will begin this next week.

Lots of people have been calling with concerns about charge cards that had to be canceled. We will not disqualify someone for a declined charge card transaction. When we find a card number that is declined, we will call the person and ask for updated charge card information.

It will take more than a week to get all the letters out. I will write again when the last of the mail is sent.

The calendar with dates that have space still available should be updated in early April.

Cheers

So your chances of getting a permit are fair. However, with a group size of 12-15, unless your app is processed early, your chances are much lower. It would also help if you chose more days, and mid-week always fills more slowly than weekends.

You didn't say, are you looking for a day hike or overnight permit? The overnights fill even quicker than the day hike permits.

Look at the Unused Whitney Permits - 2009 too. It has a column to show the permits available on 4/1 (immediately after all lottery apps were processed), as well as the number unused after the actual date.

From watching the forums and knowing how large groups work, especially for a major hike like Whitney, if you do get a permit for the large number, you will probably find people drop out when it comes to within a few days of your hike. So if I were getting permits, I would write someplace on the application something like: "If a smaller number of permits is available, we will accept a reservation for anywhere between 8 and 15 people."

And IF you have a permit for fewer than actually do go, call the permit office two or three days before and ask about adding what you need. And there are always walk-in permits available on the actual day before the hike due to no-shows.

Good Luck!