Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Enter the lottery?

Help! This summer I am planning on summiting Whitney via the MR but may also tackle Russell and catch Muir on the way out. I will take the Main Route down. This will obviously be an overnight trip, maybe two nights. Do I need to enter the Whitney lottery process since I will be exiting on the Main Trail? Thanks!

No. You only need to enter the lottery for day hikes on the North Fork. Overnight hikes on the North Fork follow the standard permit reservation process, but going down the main trail subjects you to the Trail Crest exit quota in addition to the North Fork entry quota. As long as your application arrives in time to meet both quotas (i.e. 6 months in advance), you should be able to get a permit. If that does not work, 40% of each quota is reserved for walk-in permits (available at 11 am the day before your entry date).

Here is a post explaining how to do it: http://climbmtwhitney.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=21

I just got reservations for August 3rd. Here it is in a nutshell for overnights on the Mountaineers' Route: Call 760 873-2483, the Lone Pine office, to reserve a permit for up to 6 months in advance. Tomorrow (14FEB) you could reserve August 14th or prior for a maximum of 6 climbers. Only 10 Overnighter per day are allowed on the MR. 4 are reserved for walkins. You can climb the MR and come down the main trail on this permit.

For Day use of the Mountaineers' Route the same Lottery and walkin rules as the main trail apply. Calling in 6 months prior is a great deal. Good luck.

One more thing. You said you might take two nights. Last year I had main trail permits for two nights. We did not use the second night because of a storm. The Whitney Permit Office told me that the number of nights did not affect getting the permit at all. They only wanted to know so they would have a good count of folks up on the mountain. I don't know whether this applies to the Mountaineers' Route permits or not but the permit office, 760 873-2483, will tell you.

As noted earlier, all overnight permits are good for up to 14 days, except those with a Trail Crest exit date. It has nothing to do with the Whitney trail.

Thanks for the info guys. The whole permit thing can be so confusing it seems climbing the mountains may be the easy part of the whole thing. We called today and got reservations for mid July believe it or not. Thanks again.

Nice. I'm going a couple weeks after you. If you get a chance to post the trail conditions, I look forward to hearing it.

    Yes. Unfortunately, the rules keep changing as more people take advantage of “loopholes” in the system. People tend to tell their friends how they did it and they tell their friends, etc. My first trip up the main trail was on a day hike after somebody told me how a group was going up on a day hike (at a time when day hike permits were not required for the main trail and bears in the area were not experienced breaking into trunks, but we won't go there). Now, day hikes are in included in the lottery for both the main trail and the North Fork.