The Mt Whitney Permit Lottery applications can be entered starting sometime tonight -- possibly as early as 9 PM today, (January 31), since the
www.recreation.gov site runs on the east coast.
Just be aware, you should take your time! There is NO ADVANTAGE to submitting a lottery application early. All applications will be processed in one single process, which will be run AFTER March 15.
If you have friends who may or may not commit to going on the trip, or have date conflict issues, it is probably better to wait until the week before the lottery closes to make your entries. Your lottery choices/entries CANNOT BE CHANGED once you submit them. And cancellations are non-refundable.
Just don't wait until March 15, in case you have trouble navigating the recreation.gov web pages to get into the lottery. They aren't the easiest to figure out, since the system is built to accommodate lots of different applications, from lottery applications to plain trail permits on trails all over the country.
If you have questions or problems, PLEASE do post, especially in the thread where discussion has started:
2012 Whitney Lottery information now available.
Once the site opens up to the lottery applications, I'll try to post with the clearest steps possible to enter your choices.
Good luck, everyone!
Edit March 13, 2012: Thursday, March 15 is the LAST day to enter the lottery. The application window will close about 9 PM Pacific Daylight Time that day.
The recreation.gov website information reports that lottery results should be available March 26.
Read this thread:
2012 Whitney Lottery information now available for current comments on the lottery.
(Note that there are at least three pages of comments.)
