Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion 2012 Whitney Lottery information

I'm sorry, Ernie, but if I don't get my Whitney permit, I may as well shrivel up and die. All my hopes, my dreams, my bottles of champagne: dashed to pieces with a single phone call. Keep your eye on the gear exchange here in Bishop, as I'll be getting rid of all the crap I've accumulated over the past five years...

And the sadness consumes me...

I think I'm gonna lose it . . .

If only there was a mountain range somewhere in the vicinity of Mt Whitney. Then we would have someplace else to go. But alas, the Great Plain state of California is severely limited in hiking/backpacking locations.

For others like me who got aced out of the lottery, it will be a long summer of NCIS and Criminal Minds reruns.

Oh! Don't forget Bones, Body of Proof, and Castle!

And Glee. Definitely Glee.

As an alternative, write your book & sell enough copies to raise the $$ to go with Kurt next time to Everest. I hope to read your lst publication before I die!!


Didn't notice the black dog the lst time I saw the picture. Nice looking, yours or Kurt's?

Steve, Regarding the Badwater marathon:
I was at the Portal a couple of years ago when the Badwater finishers were showing up. I was in absolute awe. Made me think...."all I'm doing is summiting Whitney!"

I really think this is a must see....

Results are available on recreation.gov now

Time to start training harder!

Yippee!! ... I got some permits. Friday July 13th and Wednesday 18th. I think Friday 13th is meant to be a lucky day - right ?.
I'm going for the W-B-W treble. That is Mt Whitney 13 July then Badwater ultra 16-18 July then Whitney again on July 19. But i need to get some permits for the 19th still.

Hope everyone else gets the dates that want !!!

Happy training.

Got mine - August 1st. I'm so excited. First climb for me. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't get my Whitney permits.

So I have invoked Plan B: Mount Shasta!

I have my permits! Monday - Aug 6 for a group of 8.

Ages 56-21; all first timers

Bay Area Doug

        The Mt. Whitney Lottery – as of March 26, 2012

Out of 9142 lottery applications in 2012, 4254 were successful. That works out to a success rate of 47%.

Out of the 4254 successful, 217 have credit card errors. These are getting a recorded phone message to call in with credit card information. They need to call recreation.gov customer service at 888-448-1474 to provide credit card information. Any of those that are not resolved will be returned to the available pool.

Our Inyo National Forest contact writes:
> We encourage comments on the online system for the Mt Whitney lottery through the Inyo National Forest Contact Us page.
(Scroll to the bottom of that page to enter your comments.)

The available slots left will can be viewed on Recreation.gov site. They become available 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. It is likely the permits will all be "gone in 60 seconds."

You can view the available slots here:   Mt Whitney Trail Day Use availability         Mt Whitney Trail Overnight availability

Shasta sounds like fun. I'd be interested in hearing how your experience goes with that. Preplanning report and then trip report would be interesting too!

Please don't attack me because I am a person who has great empathy for others. I have had one of the most difficult years of my life but this is a true story about this,my first attempt to climb Whitney.
When I was 6 years old my family drove up to Whitney Portal for a 6 day trip. When we entered Lone Pine we came upon a little tube viewer which brought Mt. Whitney into focus for the first time. I said to myself,"Some Day when I am 16 or 26 years old I am going to climb to the top of that, as I waited for my turn to put my eyeball into the tube as my brothers tried to push me out of the way. We had 6 people in the car and it had been a 6 hour drive. The first night we stayed at a little inn (more like a barn with 6 rooms) which was about 6 miles from Whitney Portal.
Upon arrival to the campground I won't say we stayed in camp spot#6 but our tent sleeped 6. The next day we did a 6 mile hike and I fell in love with this area. It is amazing what sticks in your mind when you are 6 year old.
Many years later,(not 66) I finally decided it was time to fulfill some of my hopes and dreams. Here is the weird part as if the other 6's weren't weird enough.
I put 6 applications into the 2012 Lottery and I really didn't expect to win anything...But of course I won all 6 out of my 6 applications,each with a $ 6.00 entry fee.
So I really hope I can succeed but I will have to wait out my 6 months for the date to come. I have 6 training hikes in mind. OK
Enough of the 6 thing..but it is all true.I am so excited,who knows maybe it was meant to be?
Thanks for listening!

Whoa Joni!!! Those permits cost you ...$126!

If you cancel any, do it several weeks before, so others have a chance at reserving them and going.

So make the first trip or two training hikes -- just hike to Trail Camp, or maybe Trail Crest and head back. Doing that will get you into condition, give you an idea of how fast you hike, and familiarize yourself with the trail. Then when you finally do it, you will have a fantastic time!

Congrats to my friend Lisa M for getting her dates. She's a first timer. Lisa, just keep checking the posts. Lots of people here to help you and give advice.
In my opinion, your next step... Baldy, followed by San Jacinto. There will also be some snow on July 10, but probably not enough to cause problems.
Oh, and I don't mean Baldy and SJ once, I mean several times taking different routes. Three most important words before Whitney: acclimate, acclimate, acclimate. :-)
Anybody else wanna chime in for a first timer? Good luck.

July 25....

My wife and I and 8 other are going (1 second-timer and seven, yes, 7, first-timers are going.

One first-timer was born in Lone Pine...ain't never been back since so this is a homecoming for him. He and his wife are all excited.

Sounds like we need to start a 2012 version of the Whitney Hike Calendar.

Steve, You are right about the costs but it was my husband who said,"Go ahead,do at least 6 applications." It gives him an excuse to fly fish and because of this I didn't have to sheepishly tell him how much it cost me, but neither did I really expect to win all 6. Ya know, I am delighted,scared and looking forward to the challenge. Also I am going to use all of your suggestions regarding the training and acclimating.
After months of anticipation, I hope to meet a few of you on the trail or hopefully at the summit!
Joni

Oh...And yesterday I cancelled all of the unused dates so that they will go back into the pot. Hopefully this will create opportunities for others to fulfill their plans.