Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Meysan Lake -- Not in Whitney Zone?

It would appear that Meysan Lake is not in the Whitney Zone; is this true? And a person who went to Whitney Portal via Meysan Lake would therefore not need a Whitney exit permit, yes?

Not sure that I'd want to try the route down from Mallory-Le Conte Pass/Al Green Pass, but it's an interesting option. Presumably this (up by Meysan Lake to the pass and then up the ridge to the peak) is the route my dad took when he did Mt. Mallory in 2004 (the day before he did Whitney; dad was always a strong cuss).

HJ

Yes and no.

Yes, Meysan is not in the Whitney Zone, so you do not need a Whitney PAss to enter the wilderness to hike to Meysan.

But no, you DO need the Whitney exit permit to exit by the MW Trail. If you enter at MEysan, CLimb to Whitney and then exit down the trail to the Portal, its just like entering at Shepherd PAss trail or Onion Valley and exiting by Whitney Trail to the Portal: its subject to the Whitney exit quota and there for the exit permit.

Excellent; that's just what I thought. I was actually considering it as an exit route (entering at Onion Valley) since I wasn't able to get a Whitney exit stamp.

But it looks a little gnarly to go from Sky Blue Lake to Meysan Lake by way of Mallory-LeConte Pass/Al Green Pass. I'm not sure all the members in our party are up for it.

I'll probably just use the following as my exit route:
Mt. Whitney - Discovery Pinnacle - Upper Crabtree Lake - Crabtree Pass - Sky Blue Lake - Upper Soldier Lake - Army Pass - Horseshoe Meadows

HJ

H Jim: Those exit permits are on a "25@60/40" quota: 25 per day, 60% (or 15) reservable, 40% (10 permits) available for walk-in. If you are lucky, you will be able to get the walk-ins when you pick up your entry permits. If none are available for the date you plan to exit, ask about a day prior or a day later. You can always adjust your itinerary to match...

Exactly

OTOH, I've never had an issue getting a walk-in exit permit, but maybe because I'm always solo. 10/day is actually a good number; I mean, how many people on any given day are exiting Whitney that haven't planned & reserved space months in advance? The person who shows up on the fly is a rare bird.

Btw, that's a nice, no stress, no weird hiccup traverse. I've done each section separately on different hikes, but have never linked them together in one continuous trip.

My big dream is to enter Shepherd, summit Willy, traverse to Russell, descend, go up MR, tag Muir, down Discovery, thru Miter, hit Langley and out.

It would be like training for an Ironman to get into that kind of condition.