Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Newbies with a few questions

Hey there Whitney pros. 3 friends and I have a reservation to spend two days hiking Whitney entering Tues Oct 19. We plan to stay at Cottonwood Lake on the 17th to acclimatize a bit, and then Portal camp on the 18th. Here are our questions:

1) I'd understood that we pick up our permit at the Portal Ranger Station, but Doug Sr's video says we pick it up in Lone Pine. Where do we pick it up, and what are the hours when we can?

2) I'd understood that this forum was continually posted with current conditions, but I don't see any posts about current conditions, other than the Barcroft Station weather report. Is there currently snow on the trail? Is there water at Trail Camp?

3) The Barcroft Station shows current weather. Is there a recommended forecast?

Thanks for your advice!

Ok first question should be detailed in you email from Rec.gov ,follow the 5 steps and your signed permit will be emailed to you .Permit office the last few months is overloaded you may not be able to call and emails may not be answered,also office is closed Tuesday and Wednesday .There isn't a ranger station in the Portal ,you should do the permit online ,this is very late now but answer the questions and send back to the email address make sure to copy and paste to get it correct.
The current condition didn't change until yesterday for weeks. I posted conditions yesterday and today ,We tend to stay clear of weather predictions ,several parts of the weather reports are close to to correct but often the moisture / rain, snow is not correct. Again I updated the transition from summer to winter late August.We consider this time of the season very unstable and suggest be experienced with full winter mountaineering.
The temperature at 12000 feet last night was around 10 degrees wind gust 30-40 MPH,I don't think many went above Trailcamp.
For a general look at the weather use Noaa.gov select Lone Pine Ca then touch the screen near the bottom of the page to the area that shows 4432 this should update to 13 miles west of Lone Pine and 12000 feet,again of not much use as it will update about every 3 hours,we are out of radar coverage so what you will see reported is models once a system hits the range the pattern may change.
We have a webcam that updates every 10 minutes and from that one can see the area of snow coverage how deep it may be at different elevations for example the flat area in the center of the screen is Mount Thor and the peak is 12,000 feet the rocks that are in the area take about a foot of snow to cover the rocks when all the rocks ate covered and quite white expect 2-3 feet of snow and drifts above 11,000 feet.

We suggest trailcamp or trailcrest as the end goal this time of the year,short daylight hours ,chance of very cold conditions and snow travel that will slow one down and the trail can be covered and route finding will be required.
Water stops that are available during the summer months will be frozen or dry ,you may need to bust ice to get water and your water supply may freeze as you hike ,the tube from your bladder can freeze.
Look back over reports from past late season hikes and rescues to get a idea of what you may encounter.Thanks

WHITNEY PERMITS: Trying to follow the directions on the Recreations.gov website to print out my permit (up to 14 days prior) with out success - would not give me the ‘print permit’ button. So I called the national desk - they said you have to call

Wilderness Permit Office
Supervisory Visitor Services Information
Forest Service
Inyo National Forest, Supervisor's Office

(760) 873-2483

as they handled the Whitney permits separately from the rest.

This worked well, receiving my permits by email a few minutes after the call. Getting through on the phone, at times, took a while depending on how busy they are.

Thanks for all of your advice Doug.
I think we're going to continue to plan to go to at least Trail Camp.
The ECWMF forecast model currently indicates a moderation in the weather starting Oct 19, our entry date. When I spoke with Cindy at the Eastern Sierra Visitor Center to get my permit, she said that they also see a moderation in the weather in that time frame. Of course a forecast is just a forecast, particularly that far out.

Strider,
Thanks so much for the phone number. I got through relatively easily to a very helpful ranger named Cindy. She did indicate that the system may be different next Season.
Thanks again!
Dan

My partner and I are doing an overnight on Nov 12th, since that is after the quota season how do i get a permit? I've heard we need to just fill out a self-serve permit at the ranger station but is there a special accommodation for overnighting?

Brophy,

Until Covid, after Nov 1 one could walk into the Visitor Center and pick up a permit without reservations/quotas/fees. If the VC were closed, one could self-issue at the gazebo in front of the VC.

Last Nov and Dec (ie Covid era), I obtained permits as follows: Call the Inyo Wilderness Permit Office at 760 873 2483. If the rec.gov site says permits are unavailable for the date you want (after Nov 1), the WPO will release some permits for the desired day. While still on the phone, one then goes to the rec.gov site and reserves the desired permit. While still on the phone, the WPO sees the newly generated reservation and will then get your email address and send you a permit.

This Nov I would guess that the above strategy will still get you a permit.

Have a safe hike and do not hesitate to post a short TR/conditions update when you return.

Jim

Jim, Thanks for the great info. So hard to find it online, most people talk about the quota permits. Yes I definitely will. I'll keep ya'll updated.