Whitney july 29th-30th

I have buds hiking the walk up but would love to do something technical. Was going to blast up the mountaineers route solo if I couldn't find anyone.

I'd be stoked on east face or buttress, and would be camping with buds that night at the hiker's camp at 12grand or so. 

Coming from wa to lv, so logistics could be weird :)

Hikers go up the Whitney Trail, where as the approach for the Mountaineers Route and technical east face routes goes up the North Fork of Lone Pine Creek. They're completely different approaches, in different valleys. If you camped with your friends at Trail Camp (the highest camp along the Whitney Trail, around 12K in elev), then you would be a long ways away from the base of the Mountaineers Route or the east face routes. 

the penalty for getting caught without a permit is only $100?

FYI, mountaineers permit is different than hikers permit. You can't just decide to do one or the other. 

Trail camp as others have said is nowhere near the East Face.  I have never had a problem getting a permit to do the East Face or Buttress showing up the day before at the ranger station in Lone Pine the day prior to climbing, get there when the doors open and get your name in for the lottery.   Chances are good you will get one,, especially if you can do it mid week.   

I was denied an east face permit and was forced to do the hike instead. Just know that its the state of California - aka land of rules and regulations. 

grog m aka Greg McKee wrote:

I was denied an east face permit and was forced to do the hike instead. Just know that its the state of California - aka land of rules and regulations. 

Except that those are federal regulation! (Forest Service).