Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion 2012 Whitney Lottery information

It's Tessie....

Saw the 1969 movie in grade school at least twice...

The legal community loves the word "execute" as to signing documents and whatnot....go figure...

There are about 6900 Whitney Lottery applications submitted so far. Slightly less than last year when there was a paper lottery.

Everyone, it is time to submit your applications -- this is the last week. Deadline is Thursday, March 15. They will probably cut off the lottery at midnight that day, but the system is on Eastern time, so it will probably be 9 PM, WhitneyZone time.

Good luck!!

Randuf reported on wpsmb that she had a terrible time making her entries.

On the other hand, I tried it out, entering 5 choices, and had no trouble. Go figure.

I am using Firefox 10.0.2 on a Windows 7 platform, but I don't know if that makes any difference.

Firefox 10.0.2 on an XP platform.

Just submitted my dates for my first time to Mount Whitney. I'm so excited. Come on April 1st!

Brent,I am using XP on the same platform through FireFox/Mozilla and I have had the same problems on and off through my entries. I had to repeat about everyother alternate date entry and it made me crazy because it would erase the date after I entered the trail exit choice. Believe it is a glitch in XP/Firefox firewall.Joni

I wrote this on Tuesday, March 6:


Today, there are 7600 applications entered.

Do not wait until the last day (Thursday, March 15) to get your application in. The system could shut down at any time that day. (But I'm guessing it will shut down at 9 PM Pacific time, since the system runs on Eastern time).

credit cards are beginning to be hit and some are showing reservations on their recreation.gov accounts. Not mine yet.

Brent

Well they are taking the money but I don't know my date yet. No email or notification on the website. I'm so excited!

Got a HIT!

10 people will be going...but when will we go?

Can't wait until March 26 or sooner.

I am like a kid Xmas eve....

Here's to all of you...keep a "positive attitude."

Whoa! I see a hit, too.

On Recreation.gov they show as "Lottery Freeze Period"

My credit card was hit for $15 this morning. Yipee!

cc doesn't show any charges yet, but it is usually a day behind. recreation.gov site shows lottery freeze period. this waiting is making me more koo koo!

        The Mt. Whitney Lottery – as of March 16, 2012

There were 9,142 applications submitted this year to the lottery. Dates are being awarded today, and people are charged automatically as the dates are awarded. The credit card charging process should be completed by the end of the day today.

People who entered an invalid CC number will be contacted starting March 26, so they won't even know whether they were successful until the phone call.

The available slots left will show up on Recreation.gov site sometime this weekend. Reservations with bad CC numbers that cannot be resolved will show up after March 26, as well. None of the slots remaining available can be reserved until April 1.

The April 1 scramble will start at 7 AM Pacific time. At that time computer users will have a few seconds to grab the slots they want (because lots of hikers will all be clicking at the same time). They set the time to 7 AM so people without a computer can phone Recreation.Gov and try for the same slots. (Guess who has an advantage.) It is likely the permits will all be "gone in 60 seconds."

Steve, wouldn't it be save to assume that if the $6 reservation fee when through ok, then the actual permit fee will through as well since it would be the same cc?

I am not Steve, but the $6 was for a processing fee separate from the reservation fee ($15 per person)

If you reserved by debit card, make sure you have money in your checking/savings account!!!

> wouldn't it be save to assume that if the $6 reservation fee when through ok, then the actual permit fee will through as well since it would be the same cc?

+@ti2d presented one scenario of a problem.

The $6 payment went through, but if your credit card number changed (due to expiration or theft), or you used a different card when you typed in the second one... Situations like those are what would cause the payment to be held up.

I had to enter my number twice. Once for the future issuance of the permit and then a 2nd time to get dinged for $6.00

If a typo occurs on one of the entries it might explain a delay in being charged.

I made such a typo, but the software caught it. One character to short and it said the charge number was invalid when I hit submit. I then had the opportunity to fix it. Seems like I should only have to enter my charge # once. Another opportunity for a product upgrade .

It would appear that I will be going for walk-in permits again this year.....or heading off to an adjacent drainage to do some exploring.

my account remains untouched. If I win the $200M lottery tonight, I won't be quite so bummed about not winning the Whitney lottery.

tdtz..... we'll be going sometime during the week in July. I'd love to have you come. It's a bit iffy on exactly which day we get, but so far, so good. Last year, Gary the interagency center, then called me and I drove up and got the permits.
Gary isn't sure when in July he's coming.... and hopefully there won't be as much snow as last year.