Mt. Whitney Lottery
It’s amazing how quickly January flew by. It’s now February 1st, and that can mean only one thing; it’s time to send out your application to enter the Mt. Whitney lottery.
If you want to have a chance at securing a spot on the mountain this year, you need to get your application in before the end of this month. If your envelope does not have a February postmark, then you’re just out of luck. There is the off-chance that you can pick up an unclaimed permit in April, but I wouldn’t count on it. As always, read the fine print.
Inyo National Forest Lottery Page
Be sure to put down as many alternate dates as possible. This will increase your odds of securing a permit.
Pro Tip: If you happen to secure a permit, remember to show up a day before your planned ascent, and pick up your permit before noon. If you show up after 12pm, your permit is null and void. There’s zero chance that you’ll get a replacement (unless you’re attempting a single day assault, then you might get a replacement day use pass).
To get you excited about Mt. Whitney 2010, check out my post from last year’s ascent.
Last year I completed the round trip in 10 hours. I’m hoping to cut 2 hours from that time. I think this year I’m going to talk to my doctor about altitude sickness medication. If I can negate the effects of altitude sickness (which really killed my time last year), I’m confident I can complete this run in 8 hours. I’d like to get the medication early and test it out on a Mt. Baldy (Mt. San Antonio) training run.
Man…I’m getting the butterflies just thinking about this run. Can’t wait!
See you on the trail!
Wow, that looks really daunting. And, I had no idea that you had to have a permit to do that. Be careful and have fun.
what an awesome capture of this wondeful place Herman, and hope that with the medicine against this altitude sickness you’ll have a terrific time there!
HermanTurnip: I found your blog searching for Whitney Lottery. I hope you got your permit this year. If not, there are usually walk-in permits available due to all the no-shows. And as for altitude issues, staying a day or two up at elevation — like 10K Horseshoe Meadows will get you acclimated for a quick run up the Main Mt Whitney Trail.
Not sure if I can post links here, but you can see the Unused Permits numbers if you go to the forum at WhitneyZone.com and search for “unused”.
And there is lots of info in the Orientation Notes about altitude issues.
Hope you can find the Mt Whitney Hikers Association forum at:
http://www.whitneyzone.com/wz/
Yep, I finally managed to get my permit this year. Oh, and many thanks for the link(s). That’s good info that I’m sure more than a few people will utilize!
*Internet Hi-Five*