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Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
Steve C #45519 03/23/16 11:13 PM
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From the Mount Whitney Lottery info page, and 2016 Lottery Statistics

2016 Mt Whitney Permit Lottery Results

13,638 applications submitted
5,010 (36%) were successful

3,134 won first choice date (34% were day use,66% overnight
1,876 won alternate choices.

Whitney Trail Overnight Whitney Zone DAY USE

Appli- Appli-
Date cations Hikers Date cations Hikers
----------- ----- ------ | ----------- ----- ------
Sat, Aug 06 240 1457 | Sat, Aug 06 174 948
Fri, Aug 05 230 1203 | Sat, Aug 20 152 872
Sat, Jul 02 226 1058 | Sat, Jul 23 144 743

Fri, Aug 12 117 971 | Sat, Jul 16 145 725
Sat, Aug 13 172 172 | Sat, Aug 27 105 651
Sat, Sep 03 178 895 | Sat, Aug 13 120 638

Fri, Aug 19 139 863 | Sat, Jul 30 116 602
Fri, Jul 15 169 855 | Sat, Sep 03 85 500
Sat, Jul 16 163 807 | Sat, Jul 09 86 455
Sat, Jul 23 153 801 | Sun, Sep 04 78 445


Lottery results became available about 9 PM March 23 (Pacific Time).

- - - Timeline - - -
March 24:  Preview results by logging into your account and view your lottery application.  Acceptance period begins April 1.

April 1:  Mini- On-sale.  Any remaining space opens for real time web reservations for the remainder of the season.  On-sale opens at 7 AM Pacific Time (No phone reservations)

April 1- April 30:  Accept or decline if you won a date from the lottery. You must complete your trip information and pay the $15 per person reservation fee to claim your reservation.

Cancellations and declined space will be added back to the reservation calendar within 24 hours at a random time.

April 30:  Deadline closes at midnight Eastern Time. You must accept and pay the reservation fee, or the reservation will be canceled.

May 1:  All unclaimed dates are canceled and released for web reservations (space is released within 24 hours at a random time).

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
Steve C #45520 03/24/16 05:44 AM
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Disappointed - unsuccessful again this year. However, I am not sure if I understand how the lottery works. My first pick was Sunday 7/31 which shows no spots left, but my first alternate date (Sunday 8/7) still shows 6 spots open. My 10th and 15th choices also show available quota. Do they not continue through the applications and fill the spots until they've all been processed? I'm not sure why I couldn't have been awarded a permit for 8/7 when it was my first alternate and there are more than enough spots available to award it to me. I appreciate any insight you guys can give me to help better understand it!

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
splake #45522 03/24/16 06:41 AM
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Have you tried clicking on Lottery Applications rather than Current Reservations?

I thought I missed out too, but when I went to the right place 'Lottery Applications' I found that I was in fact successful with my 1st choice.

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
splake #45523 03/24/16 06:44 AM
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I won the lottery for June 11th. I didn't fully understand the conditions of MT Whitney in June will after the lottery closed. From reading online June will is the early season and snow will be a major factor. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I'll be declining my entry. Has anyone on the form had success joining a random group? I'll be searching this thread for other options.

April 1 see what dates are left and may 1 check for the random release.

Last edited by Briang191; 03/24/16 06:55 AM.
Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
Briang191 #45524 03/24/16 07:02 AM
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If the April 1 sale this year is anything like April 1 of last year, I would almost say don't bother. All remaining available summer openings disappeared literally within seconds. May 1 you may have better luck due to the randomness of it. And then throughout the season some openings do appear at random.

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
splake #45525 03/24/16 07:52 AM
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Originally Posted By: splake
Disappointed - unsuccessful again this year. However, I am not sure if I understand how the lottery works. My first pick was Sunday 7/31 which shows no spots left, but my first alternate date (Sunday 8/7) still shows 6 spots open. My 10th and 15th choices also show available quota. Do they not continue through the applications and fill the spots until they've all been processed? I'm not sure why I couldn't have been awarded a permit for 8/7 when it was my first alternate and there are more than enough spots available to award it to me. I appreciate any insight you guys can give me to help better understand it!


Same thing happened to me. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the list is showing first picks only. Your first pick date was someone else's backup date, and when their application was processed during the lotter their first choice date was not available so they got your date instead. The list does not reflect that though, it only shows the number of applications/people who selected your first pick date as their first pick date.

Quote:
This data is from the first choice only. When alternate choices are considered the number of people requesting a date is greatly increased.

Last edited by eje67; 03/24/16 07:55 AM.
Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
eje67 #45529 03/24/16 10:56 AM
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I don't understand the lottery either... My first choice date shows availability that is greater than the number of people in my party. Why wasn't I chosen? Could it be that some people already cancelled on that date? Or the website isn't accurate?

Last edited by UglyOldMan; 03/24/16 10:56 AM.
Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
eje67 #45530 03/24/16 12:22 PM
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eje67 - I wasn't going by the application results. I went to the recreation.gov site and searched again and it shows R on days where there are no available spots and an X with a number of permits available on other dates. For example, right now at least, August 1 shows available quota of 5.

Now of course the issue could be that the website just isn't accurate right now.

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
splake #45531 03/24/16 03:05 PM
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same here except on my first choice....

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
Steve C #45533 03/24/16 04:25 PM
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Fortunate -- 1st choice awarded for 4 starting August 19th. Good luck everyone!

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
eje67 #45534 03/24/16 04:49 PM
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Last year I didn't get anything in the lottery but was able to score 4 spots for the exact dates I wanted in August, when I went to the site on May 1. Ans even looking on May 2 and 3, there were still spots for 4 in various dates in August (overnight). So go back May 1, and keep checking throughout the day, because they are not all released at once, as Steve said.

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
splake #45537 03/24/16 06:18 PM
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Originally Posted By: splake
eje67 - I wasn't going by the application results. I went to the recreation.gov site and searched again and it shows R on days where there are no available spots and an X with a number of permits available on other dates.


The plot thickens. ; ) It's showing 2 available spots on my first pick (August 30th). I wonder what the deal is?

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
Steve C #45538 03/24/16 06:30 PM
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Hi -

I received a confirmation email when I submitted my app back in Feb. I have not received an email with the results for my lottery app. I have a confirmation #. Is there a way to search for results by confirmation #?

I also logged into my recreation.gov account and my lottery app is not listed.

Any idea how I find out the status of my app?

Thank you,

Paula

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
LuvAdventure2014 #45540 03/24/16 11:15 PM
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splake, eje67, UglyOldMan, LuvAdventure2014:

If you see slots available for any of your choice of dates, it is my guess that people have already cancelled the slots they won. It is highly unlikely that any dates in June through September had any remaining slots left after the lottery process ran. Also, when you talk about seeing slots available, make SURE you are looking at the overnight or day use displays.

Those slots that you can see will become available at 7 AM on April 1. But good luck, since they vanish in seconds. You are likely to have better chances on May 1.   On April 1, using the recreation.gov website to grab available slots, you will have better chances of success if you practice: Click "update availability" repeatedly until the 7 AM time they show available. When the "A" for available shows up, click it, then click Book Permit -- as fast as you can! Make sure your group size is already set correctly.


Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
Steve C #45545 03/25/16 09:22 AM
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Thanks Steve C, I submitted an inquiry on the Forest Service website and they confirmed that the available slots were cancellations, and that all dates in July, August and September were filled by the lottery. (Really quick turnaround on the inquiry!)

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
Steve C #45547 03/25/16 09:59 AM
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Thanks Steve - that makes sense. Last year I was unsuccessful in the lottery, on April 1, and then on May 1, but I did find a permit for early August sometime early in the summer. I didn't make it to the top due to illness (possibly altitude, but I felt bad for the next 3 days so who knows?), so I'm itching to try again this year.

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
splake #45548 03/25/16 10:28 AM
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splake, good luck this year! Coming from so far, give yourself a little more time to acclimate. Best way is to drive up to Horseshoe Meadows and spend two nights before you attempt a day hike. That will really help with the AMS issues.

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
eje67 #45560 03/26/16 06:15 PM
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Hi all,
Readers of this blog may remember me from my aborted attempt on the mountain last October when I was snookered by a heavy snowfall.
I am up for another shot, however was not successful in the lottery despite requesting 15 midweek slots in August/September. Am now wondering whether I can risk a couple of thousand hard earned on the chance of picking up a walk in permit?
Of course I will be exhausting all other avenues before I resort to those extreme measures.
I have to admit that I felt cheated last year so am eager to take on the challenge again!

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
Intrepid #45561 03/26/16 09:43 PM
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Hi Intrepid,
My guess is that there will be an abundance of walk-in permits available this summer. Which is good, ...for the reasons below. However here is the really bad part:

Due to the road construction on Whitney Portal Road, there will be a period, likely during most of the prime hiking season, that there will be NO parking allowed on the side of the road where most of the overflow parking has been in the past summers.

Also, due to the road construction and the limited parking availability, people MUST have a parking permit to park anywhere near Whitney Portal. People who snagged a permit in the lottery will be given ONE parking permit per hiking party.

And for the worst part: People getting walk-in permits will NOT be getting a parking permit. They MUST arrange transportation to the trail head that does not require parking.

So... if you can arrange a shuttle service, or can hitch hike to the portal, you will be ok. Shuttle services are few, and are listed in the first post of the Road Construction thread.

Re: Mt Whitney Permit Lottery 2016
Steve C #45572 03/27/16 08:58 PM
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Hi Steve,
Yes the roadworks and parking (i.e. lack of it, looks like a real issue). It seems that there is a real risk that I could turn up for a walk in permit only to be told 'Yes we have permits but we are not issuing them because of the road congestion and shortage of parking'
At least that is the message I am getting from the posts about the road construction.
I am hoping to maybe pick something up on 4/1. It would be great to have some certainty before I launch from 'down under'

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