Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Whitney Lottery 2014

So am I right in thinking that nobody has heard lottery results yet (6pm PST on 3/23)? Were they supposed to post results in our account information today, or just email us the results? Neither has appeared to happen. But I could imagine that bulk emails like that could trickle out slowly over a couple hours.

If anyone has heard anything, holler.

My application, at the top, now says

"The Lottery results will be displayed on the site by Tue Apr 01 2014. Please visit the site after the lottery execution."

Which is a bummer, because I want to apply to the Half Dome Lottery too and not have a conflict. Of course, if I don't get a permit, there is no conflict

I checked in with Inyo N.F. staff -- they have been getting lots of calls. I learned that there was a bit of confusion between Inyo and the Rec.gov people. Inyo fully intended for the results to be made available this past weekend, but the rec.gov person in charge of pressing the buttons did not understand that part.

So fires have been lit and they are hoping the information will be available later today. However the person doing the work is not the same as last year, so no promises.

The idea is that people can see what they received in the lottery, and then check what is left online, and if they want, can sign up for any open slots that remain -- starting April 1.

As April progresses, people will decline a few slots, and during April, those will become available on recreation.gov, too. When slots are released, they become available within the next 24 hours ("at a random time" as they put it).

Edit: ...and within an hour of posting this, people are seeing their results! I guess the guy figured out what buttons to press.

Thanks for working your connections, Steve.

I just checked and I got my first choice for overnight Aug 27. So excited. Thanks for all the help here!

Just got our overnight date :-)

Got my date, BUT, the site wont let me "accept" it!

I'm sure they are overwhelmed right now... same with mine, just gotta pay later.
Good news is WE got our permits!

Just got some dates I requested that no longer works with my schedule. Some Q's:

A) is it hard to switch dates?
B) whats involved?

Thanks from a new Sierra Hiker

www.hikinginsocal.blogspot.com

Yes it's hard to switch dates. You effectively are in the same boat as those who did not get a reservation. You have to check online for open slots and reserve one.

Separately, you can decline the date you got. You do that online during April. If you don't, it will be automatically canceled at the end of April. On May 1, all the non-accepted become available, so you should be sure and check what is available then.

And on April 1, the un-used lottery slots will become available to be reserved online. So you can start looking now at what is available.

Wow! Looking online at the day hike dates, there are many days especially mid-week, throughout the summer, that are still available. Most weekends are fully reserved, but not mid-week.

Overnight slots are more fully booked, but there are still many available in June.

Your Lottery Application has been revoked.


Any idea why? I only submitted one application with that account. I was listed as an alternate leader on a different trip/date/account that did get some spots.

I think there's something a bit weird with the lottery results... Mine is showing "unsucessful" for the date I picked (Aug 14), but it shows 42 day-use permits still available on the link Steve C posted.

Anybody else seeing something similar?

David B, call the Wilderness Permit office number: 760-873-2483 and ask. (and please report back)

I am thinking there might be some issues with the run this year.

I won the lottery..I won..I won..excited..the only thing now is initial group size was six and I'm only one who wants to go. So I'm going to release 5 slots. I think some people need that more than my tentative friends. Day hike - 23rd July.

AJ

I just called the permit office.

Apparently if you win permits one application, any other applications that you are listed as an alternate leader for are revoked/cancelled.

I have friends that were planning trips separate from mine that listed me as an alternate, even though I was not planning on joining them. I am going to feel horrible if their applications were pulled b/c my name is on them!

This is ridiculous. Waste of $6. We applied for 3 and each one of lost out, even though there are spots available for alternate dates. There is something not right about this lottery. They should tell us all rules. Upset.

From the looks of it, I think Recreation.gov has some 'splainin' to do.

And PLEASE do not call and yell at the Inyo people. They are just "users" of the recreation.gov site. Some software people in another part of the country are the ones running rec.gov.

Edit: I posted a revision on the next page. Inyo tells me there are already lots of cancellations going on online. So days that were originally full are opening up.

The lady I spoke with on the phone said that there was a warning at the top of the lottery webpage to only submit one application per group/trip. It may have been there, but I certainly did not see it.

On the application that won, I was listed as the first alternate and all of the dates were for June 3 or 4 (week days). I got 3 permits.

On the application that was revoked, all of the dates were for weekends in June, July, August and the first week of September, with a minimum of 5 people.

I asked her how they decided which application would be revoked. She said, we give you the most desirable dates and cancel the other app(s).

... REALLY?!?... If I meet the person that decided, I'm going to see if I can trade the them two shiny pennies for old, ratty $100 bill.

I don't think that is quite right. During the lottery processing, your applications get processed in a random order. So the one you "won" got processed first.

Then, the process goes down through your requested dates, processing those on THAT one application in order, first to last. As soon as one is successful, the system looks up all your other applications and cancels (or Revokes???) them. I was not aware that it would look you up in the Alternate Leader slots, and cancel those, too.