Welcome to the forum, msnit! And congratulations getting your reservations on the lottery.
That will be quite a group if you get ten friends coming all the way from NY!
I am sure glad we could help with the information department. And I might add: If you don't use all your reserved slots, the cool thing to do is call the Wilderness Permit office at some point, but preferably more than a week before your hike date, and release the reservations you don't need. That frees them up for last-minute callers to reserve.
...I should put a plug in at this point... If you feel so inclined, the The Mt Whitney Hikers Association will gladly accept donations. (Find the link above on the left in the Feature Topics box.)
