Just chiming in since I wrangled some permits within the last several weeks. The permits are released 6 months in advance, to the day, at 12:00 AM PST. The 6 months applies to the entry permit, and it is my understanding that they provide one additional week's worth of Whitney Portal exit quota slots since no one would be exiting the same day as they entered (you can see exit slots for 8/3 because it is 6 months and 7 days beyond today, 1/28). I was able to secure a North Fork Lone Pine creek permit entering on 7/3 by setting an alarm for 3:00 AM on 1/3 (I live on the east coast) and typing as quickly as I could, I still had to settle for exiting on 7/6, my second choice. And this was for a single permit. Good luck!
