Mount whitney north fork routes permit earliest reservation time

Looking to do the east buttress of Whitney in june or august.  Thought I understood that the lottery opened in February but can only seem to apply for the Standard route up or do the north fork routes not require a lottery?  Either way, cant seem to find any way of reserving a permit for anything other than the standard route lottery.  Trying to coordinate my vacation and dates with my partner as soon as I can. 

Maybe you looked here already, but the North fork of lone pine Creek permits are found under the Inyo wilderness permits section of recreation.gov

This threw me in the past. 

I also had a reminder set for February 1st only to realize that the north fork is a different permit system. I just went down this rabbit hole so YMMV but what I learned is that the permits for north fork open at 7am two weeks prior to the date you are booking for. There was a post on here from 2-3 years ago with more info because it does seem things change and have been changing since Covid but that is my general understanding. 

Day use permits are shared for the whole Whitney area and have a lottery. Overnight permits for the Whitney Trail are also part of the lottery:
https://www.recreation.gov/permits/445860

Overnight permits for the climbing routes are a part of "North Fork Lone Pine Creek" are don't have a lottery. They are instead released in 2 chunks, 6 months and 2 weeks in advance:
https://www.recreation.gov/permits/233262

Austin Donisan wrote:

Overnight permits for the climbing routes are a part of "North Fork Lone Pine Creek" are don't have a lottery. They are instead released in 2 chunks, 6 months and 2 weeks in advance:
https://www.recreation.gov/permits/233262

Are you sure they still release permits 6 months in advance?  Anything more than 2 weeks out says it's not available to book yet, check back 2 weeks before.

Alissa Doherty wrote:

Are you sure they still release permits 6 months in advance?  Anything more than 2 weeks out says it's not available to book yet, check back 2 weeks before.

Youre only seeing the 4 avaliable walk in slots.

The 6 slots reservable six months in advance are already purchased.  Slots open at 7am PST and are sold out in seconds for weekends, and reasonable quick for other days.

Alissa Doherty wrote:

Are you sure they still release permits 6 months in advance?  Anything more than 2 weeks out says it's not available to book yet, check back 2 weeks before.

Yes. You can see some for early May are still available.

• 60% of quota is released 6 months in advance (i.e. entry date of July 4 opens on January 4) 
• 40% of quota is released 2 weeks in advance, on the same day of the week (i.e. if entry date is on a Tuesday, permits become available on the Tuesday 2 weeks prior)
• "NR" means the 60% has all been reserved and the 40% has not yet been released

6 months out rolling daily. So they go fast. However, my experience in the past has been that it's not particularly difficult to get cancellations. Especially I think June this year will have lots of cancellations assuming the snow pack is still pretty heavy. 

Thanks for the help on this thread -- just snagged a permit 6 months out from today.  I also realized all this info is mentioned on the original page for the Inyo National Forest Permits (before you click through to Explore Available Permits).

You do have to be quick.  By the time I filled in the info for my permit, I went back and checked if others were still available (5-10 mins) and they were all gone.  It was for a Friday in mid-August by the way.

Got it thanks! Managed to nab a couple of permits, reserved two extra contingency days at iceberg Lake in case we don't get the right weather but I'm assuming they're not sticklers if we get a window on the first day and hike down early?  

wisam wrote:

Got it thanks! Managed to nab a couple of permits, reserved two extra contingency days at iceberg Lake in case we don't get the right weather but I'm assuming they're not sticklers if we get a window on the first day and hike down early?  

Nobody is forcing you to stay longer than you want, no matter how long your permit.