Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Old Army Pass

My wife and I attempted a one-day Langley summit attempt (our first time on Langley) on July 14 after having enjoyed Whitney over the past 10 years. However, a number of items conspired against us and we came up short: late start, lack of proper acclimitization, too-heavy packs, off-route, and frankly, not enough respect for this endeavor. We're going to give it another go toward the end of this month and we'd like to use Old Army if possible. We came down New Army Pass on July 14 and it was doable then without special equipment. I would appreciate any information you might have on Old Army conditions as the month progresses. Also, if anyone has information on an alternative route between Old Army and New Army that starts up the slide by the lake we'd love to hear the details. We saw a small group coming down that slide on the 14th and a fellow hiker told us a little about it the day before our attempt, but we couldn't identify the take off.

Thanks,
Don

I have descended from Peak 12369 (E of New Army Pass) to Long Lake, but I suspect the reverse would be very tiring (steep and loose). I would guess that Army Pass would be doable without snow gear by the end of the month.

I second that. We have a group going up on August 13th, and we would prefer to use Old Army Pass if it is clear. Any info, trip reports, sightings, or photos prior to that would be really awesome.

Thank you!

Nathan...we'll look forward to reading your report...thanks and good luck

Any recent conditions reports for Army Pass?

I'm driving up tonight, hoping to snag walk-in Whitney overnight permits for Friday. My "Plan B" is to hike to Cottonwood Lakes, and attempt Langley on Saturday. If I end up going that way, I'll try to post a TR with conditions of Old Army Pass.

Hi Richard -

If you end up doing Langley on Saturday, maybe we will see you up there. Noone bringing pointy things - so pending any updates, will probably go with the safe bet of up NAP.

Those of you who are going to attempt Langley keep an eye out for my camera!! :-)

(See a post I just posted)

Mark Vander Pol

I just went to New Army and Old Army Pass last weekend. (Aug. 5-7). Did a day hike up New Army and Came down Old Army. My husband went up Old Army 2 years ago and found his "ducks" (we are not climbers and there was a large ice/snow bank up the regular trail.) We easily went down that same route my husband (and many other I suppose)had went before.
There is snow a bit way down the trail but wasn't bad at all.I have a picture of the trail but don't know how to post it.
Hope this helps.

We went down Army Pass yesterday. Totally doable with no ice equipment. There is one small low angle traverse down low with kicked boot track. Up top - usual snow section is totally avoidable.

Tomcat...thanks for the post...how about going up Old Army? Same?

I only went down Army Pass - not up. Several made it up - that is why we decided to give it a go. It is good condition up or down though.

There were many hikers that used Old Army Pass on 08/13/2011. We spoke to them and they said that it was no problem. We would have descended that way but we had friends to meet on New Army Pass. We took some photos from the top and from Army Point.

Photos for Langley and Army Point

Thanks Nathan...your group was blessed by a beautiful day, lots of smiles

It looks like you got all the condition reports you need. I was at Cottonwood Lake #4 on Friday, and spoke to a couple who had just come down from the pass, and they told me basically what you see above -- totally doable, with some care required.

Alas, one of my group came down with a bad case of AMS, and we ended up hiking back down in the dark, so we never even started up the pass.

This is what the pass looks like from below



You can see the trail across the snow field about halfway up.

This is one of the worst spots, near the top

Excellent reports guys, thanks very much for the info and pictures. It's a big change in one month.

I've been following this thread for the last few days. Thanks all for the trail conditions. My group is heading up to Langley the first week in September. Can't wait!