Whitney Permit Denied

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bj
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Re: Whitney Permit Denied

Post by bj »

Langley is probably you best bet for a good class 1-2 summit. White is boring. Tyndall is class 2+, if two is your limit. Split is class 2, but would be a nasty slog in August. Muir is in the "Whitney zone" and needs the same permit. If you go guided, and you can only go guided on the Mountaineers route (class 3+), the guides will get your permit.
Just a drinker with a climbing problem..
Steve C
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Re: Whitney Permit Denied

Post by Steve C »

Lots of good info posted above, except pbakwin gave some opposites.
It's pretty tough doing Whitney in two days from the Cottonwood Lakes or Cottonwood Pass trail head to the south. And then you ALSO need the exit permit: called "Mt. Whitney (Trailcrest Exit) JM35" on the online Recreation.gov site.

Same goes for the nearest trail head to the north: Onion Valley / Kearsarge Pass. Requires the same exit permit, and most people spend 2-3 nights doing that route.

So your best bet is the walk-in permits. The day hike noshows become available at 2 pm the day before at the Visitor Center a mile S of Lone Pine. Some day hike permits come available between two days before up until noon the day before from groups checking in and dropping a slot or two due to members dropping out.

There are ALSO overnight walk-in permits available for the group size reductions as well as no-shows. No-shows become available at 11 AM the day of the hike. Group size reductions can become available starting two days before, but more likely the day before or morning of the hike.

If you go with the idea of Langley as an alternate choice, you have very good chances of getting the walk-in Whitney overnight permits. To get an idea of your walk-in chances, look at the Unused Whitney Permits for 2012 information. Those numbers are what is left even after all the walk-in requests.

Now, for all things Whitney, please visit whitneyzone.com. There are links to two primary info threads on every page: Mt Whitney Lottery Info 2013 and Wilderness Permit Options The Wilderness Permit page, especially "step 6" gives you the information I have written above.
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