Mt Whitney
Information, Message Board, Links
Mt Whitney, California
Mt Whitney is the highest peak in the United States outside of Alaska. The peak is in the southern section of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. It is a rugged, high altitude area, where massive mountains and long distance views make climbing Mt. Whitney the goal of large numbers of people. This page and the links here are provided to give you all the information you need to visit the area and climb the peak.
Whitney Hikers Association: Visit the WhitneyZone Message board to get up-to-date answers on trail conditions, ask questions about gear, drinking water and everything else. The Whitney Hikers Association message board is a friendly forum where you can browse and post messages, get current conditions, read trip reports and much more. It is monitored by experienced hikers most familiar with the Mt. Whitney area.
Mt. Whitney Trail Permits The Mt Whitney trail from Whitney
Portal to the summit is the most popular trail on the east side of the
Sierra. For this reason, the Forest Service limits the number of
hikers by issuing hiking permits. There are so many requests that
there is a lottery in February of each year to determine who gets a
permit. This is the only trail in the Sierra where permits are required
even for dayhiking.
To enter the lottery, you should mail your request the first week of February (but any time in February is ok). The permits are then drawn beginning on the 15th. After February, all that is available are the unfilled days, and any no-show spots. No-show spots are available at 2 PM the day before for day hikes, and at 11 AM on the date of entry for overnight hikes. Here is the link to the Inyo National Forest Mt. Whitney trail permit lottery information. For general Inyo NF Mt. Whitney information, click here.
Inyo NF maintains a web page showing what is
currently available for the main Mt Whitney trail, for both
overnight and dayhike permits. If there is a slot available, you
can call and reserve a permit. Here is the link.
Check the bottom of the page to see when it was last updated.
Check this link
to see the number of unused permits for a particular date. The
unused permits are available free the day before (for day hikes) or in
the afternoon for overnight hikes. See this link
for more information on permit options.
Altitude sickness:
If you have never climbed as high as Mt. Whitney before, be sure you read this page!
Whitney summit weather
Whitney Portal weather
Lone Pine weather
Weather.com Doppler Radar - Ridgecrest
Weather.com US West Coast Satellite
Weather.com Southwest US Infrared Satellite
The Whitney Portal Store
is located at the Mt. Whitney
Portal -- at the trail head and end of the road. It is open during
the summer hiking season, and closes down each winter. It is famous
for its huge hamburgers and french fries after a grueling and
rewarding hike.
The Portal Store web site.
Whitney Portal campground:
Information and reservations
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