First of all, I am not the owner of this site. It belongs to the Mt Whitney Hikers Association, and everyone participating here and adding valuable information is a contributing member (whether paying $ or not). I would really appreciate any help anyone can give (so sorry Versatile Fred has moved on), and will gladly make use of any and all text someone can put together if they want to work on a "The Most Important Information" page. It would be good to have such a page, and link to it in several prominent places.
Unfortunately Ken's experience, where 90% of his audience at the Mt Whitney talks have not heard of either wps or WhitneyZone. I have often estimated that only 20% of Whitney hikers ever visits either site.
However, people who don't ever register, DO read the Orientation Notes and the Whitney Permit info. If you click the "Who's Online" link below the Feature Topics and Shout Box on the left, you can actually see the topics people are reading. (Check it out... you can see what the anonymous are reading.)
Several years ago, Inyo had a page posted at the trail head that read, "People Die Here!" with some important information. I think it was a good idea, and they should put it up every year.
Inyo National Forest does in fact refer to WhitneyZone on their
Hiking the Mt. Whitney Trail document (accessible from the Recreation
Passes & Permits page). Right in the middle of the first page:
Unfortunately, they are not links on the Inyo page, and the disclaimer pretty well discourages people from visiting.
The idea of an information page, and a quiz following really isn't that bad. (This blends into the arguments on how many to allow into the wilderness, with the idea that educating people first might be good.) There are online courses people can take: Traffic School comes to mind. My employer requires a Sexual Harassment Training course. It could be a requirement that people take a short online course and pass a test before they can get a permit. Taking the course once every 3 to 5 years could be a requirement.
That is only one idea. I am sure there are others. Educating people would save lives.
