The lesson? Chill about the lottery. Yeah, I know it's nice being certain, and having your permit letter in hand before you make your plans, but history shows that if you simply head to Lone Pine in the summer and (1) have a little bit of flexibility, and (2) try to avoid weekends, you will almost certainly snag that permit to climb Whitney.
So folks, do not tank all your plans and walk away because you don't get a lottery permit - big mistake! Use a little smarts in organizing your trip and a permit will be there in Lone Pine waiting for you.
If you want to investigate the numbers yourself, the details are here .
This strategy is not without its risks. I was in a group of 4 that showed up the 2nd to last weekend in August 2009 on a Thursday. No permits available. We stayed for Friday. Permits were available, we were first in line as the doors opened, but the office ran a mini-lottery for the 10 or 15 people in line (although not everyone wanted overnight Whitney permits). We drew #3, but the guy that drew #2 grabbed the last 4 for his group. Nothing looked available for Saturday.
On the topic of 2011 permits. We received out rejection today. Our application list of dates was quite long. With the last line being 5 permits for any Thursday or Friday in July, August, or September.
