Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mt. Langley

I am planning on going up Mt. Langley next weekend (July 25th) and am wondering about the snow conditions in the Old Army Pass. I know it is later in the season, yet have seen mixed reports on the board from a few weeks earlier. Anyone been up there recently who could confirm its passibility? We do not have experience on snow, and will be equipped with hiking boots and trekking poles.

Thanks!

No snow except in some chutes here and there ....those chutes are way offcourse anyways ... trail is dry like the desert ...all the way from bottom to the top of langley....

Well, I wouldn't say that it's dry from top to bottom. I just took my 12 year old daughter up last Thursday (17th). Once you start the traverse above the switchbacks, a chunk of the trail is under snow which pushes you to a make shift trail just below. Not tough but you are hopping around a little. Just above the slide, there is a 15 foot section of snow to cross. You will be on snow in this section unless it's melted which I doubt. My daughter went high and I stayed below just in case. Nothing really hard here. We were wearing trail running shoes, not boots. All in all, I wouldn't worry about it but it is Old Army Pass. My daughter and I then scampered up the left chute to Langley where we ran into a good grapple storm. She quickly summitted, registered and headed down into some rain. It's great up there so enjoy.

Hello Ed, My daughter and I are going up in mid Aug. to complete Langley. How long did it take you guys ? Do you need any type of pass or permit ?

Thanks

This is a great trip for kids as you may know since it sounds like you've been there before. We backpacked in to Cottonwood 3 and camped. We left at 8 the next morning as I wanted to make sure that any snow crossing wouldn't be iced over. We were on top of Old Army Pass by 9:30 and on top of Langley a couple of hours later. From Old Army, it is dry and simple as the earlier poster mentioned. If you haven't been there before, stay left as you approach Langley and head up what looks like a sand hill. There is a chute there to climb which takes you through the rock. Not difficult at all. Then angle right (northeast) as Langley is at the east end of the ridge. We made it down in about 2 hours as the weather was a factor and we were trying to avoid as much as we could. Again, my daughter is 12. You do need a permit if you're going to be backpacking in. Stop at the Forest Service office just south of Lone Pine. They aren't difficult to get. I wouldn't worry. Good luck. It's a great father daughter trip.

I summited Langley yesterday, going up (Old) Army Pass. The snow is entirely gone from the trail up to the pass, except for one short stretch where a bypass trail is nearly as good as the regular trail. There also are two areas of rockfall over the trail up to the pass, but these too have convenient bypasses.