Mount Whitney – Climbing, Hiking & Mountaineering

Brian from UNITED STATES writes:

Hiking Whitney on Oct 12th. First timer here going with two older teens, my son and his friend. Getting passes to hike Mt Whitney in advance is a bit tedious [you have to go to recreation.gov to get them in advance and the most popular dates are bought up quickly when the season opens early in the year], but in talking with a ranger on the phone at Whitney Portal some time ago he did say that there are a fair number of passes each day that go unclaimed due to no shows. It is a gamble to head up there hoping for an unclaimed pass, especially on weekends and other popular dates, but hiking during the week it does appear chances are good that you can get a tag. One thing, if you buy a pass on line and don't go, don't expect a refund or sympathy - even if the web site creates confusion and you got a pass for a wrong date. I got a pass realized a couple of minutes later that I had the wrong date, cancelled it and got the right date. When I inquired about a refund, making the obvious case that I cancelled it right then, they informed me there were no refunds on passes for Whitney. It appears that the only way to get out of a pass in such cases is to put the charge in dispute it with your credit card company. I'll pop back in after the hike and let you know how it went.

2012-10-07