Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Lottery Results

Has anyone gotten their lottery results?

I got mine Friday morning. I applied for 75 different days. I got my 74th choice.

I'm in! End of July. Will be sixth Whitney for me, 10th anniversary. Now in the process of suckering friends into joining me.

They let you put that many options in now? I don't remember that.

I put in for mostly July and August weekends knowing I probably would not win. And I did not.

I got a reservation for the beginning of October - happy about that. However, my son can’t go that week. I just paid for the permits - once you have paid, can you try to pick up a cancellation when those are available, also? Or will that invalidate your reservation? I’m happy to go in early October, but would rather go on a date when my son can go also.

You can apply for up to 10 different “choices”. Each choice can be a single date or a range of dates. A range of dates can be as many consecutive days as you like. If you specify a range of dates, they give you the first available date in that range. I requested 10 ranges of 6-13 dates each. There were no openings in my first 9 ranges. I got June 19, the second date of my 10th range.

Eric J, you can always try for cancellations even with a paid reservation. If you get one, be sure to cancel the one in October.

Also, if the Inyo NF website is correct (it still shows 2023), the best time to grab un-paid-for reservations is at 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time. You have to be quick with your fingers to grab one, because they go fast.

Seems they have expanded the number of dates you can choose in recent years. I think this would result in more permits being won by people who ultimately don't want them. The website wins because they get to collect multiple lottery / reservation fees for the same spot.

I am starting to wonder if the Lottery is even worth entering, or I should just wait until the unclaimed reservations open up. Last year was the first time I tried the unclaimed reservations, and I had better luck with that than the lottery, they went quick, but not instantly gone if I remember. I think there was like 5-10 minutes to grab permits before most were taken.

Got 5/5 overnight for a 10 head group. Rather swap it for late June or Early July, if anyone is interested

Reservations can't be swapped. You can only cancel a reservation. And then the slots you returned show up randomly sometime in the next 24 hours.

The group leader, or alternate leader must carry the permit on the hike. If you swap a reservation to someone else, their name won't be on the permit.

I haven't accepted it yet since i have time until 4/21. If someone else wants to be part of it i can put their name/s as alternate leader. They could do the same with my name on their won lottery day

Or you mean that won't work Steve?

I don't think adding an alternate would be possible after being awarded a slot (even unpaid-for). But it won't hurt to try, I suppose.

In for late September!

Doing Whitney a week after Rim-to-Rim. It will be my girlfriend's first trip on both.

Joshua, after those two trips, either she's a keeper or she'll be fleeing for someone/someplace more civilized!

Hi, I got a permit for late June, but I'm going to be watching snow levels to see if it's possible to go without having an ice ax/mountaineering equipment. If anyone else is watching at that time period, would love to know thoughts! It will be my first time.

That's close to my date. What are your thoughts on the snow levels at that time?

I'm planning my 40th ascent June 19. I'm going, crampons necessary, or not. I'm guessing the MR will require crampons and axe, and the trail may not.

Looks like it’ll be an interesting May, June. The Sierra snow pack picked up steam late this year and is on track for the second largest in a few years, 2023 being pretty much off the recent charts.
Looking back in the threads here, 2023 had discussions into August on snow conditions on the 99 switchbacks. 2022 and 2021 had significantly smaller snow packs. In 2022, no comments that I could see on trail snow conditions around May, June. Probably a sign that people are getting up and down okay. Back in 2021, there’s commentary that the main trail was pretty much snow free by middle of May. 2020, a little later snowpack, but not huge, there’s pictures & discussion around June 23rd about the trail reopening. Looks manageable. 2019, another relatively decent snowpack and there are some notes around 1st week July that’s there was a lot of snow on the trail.
Probably still a toss-up right now if the 99 switchbacks will be navigable without some equipment in late June, even if microspikes. Could be more snow in the coming weeks and who knows how fast it’ll all melt.
Overall my money is with bobpickering succeeding with crampons, June 19th. 40 times up, that’s a ton of know-how and experience. A legend.

Snow pack charts here. And, this isn’t necessarily a Whitney predictor. I think it’s Phillips Station data, west of Tahoe. Whitney is its own thing.
https://www.latimes.com/projects/california-sierra-snowpack-2024-records-drought-history/

Haha, this will be the REAL test.