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

HILARIOUS! Thank you for the info! Plus I love your "photo"!

I was up NAP on Saturday and topping out over the cornice was the most extreme mountaineering that I had done at the time. It was exceeded only by returning to the cornice and down climbing the same section. We went over the cornice at the very far right end where it abuts the VERY large rock wall. At this point the cornice was not over-hanging, but basically vertical for the last 6 to 10 feet. When we returned to High Lake, we spoke with an ascending climber who said that he would go right of the large rock wall, following along the ascending base of the wall and then up. This is considerably farther to the right (east) ow where the trail goes up. Jeff, I am curious where you topped out.
After NAP, the rest of the climb to the summit was pedestrian. The large cairns were intact and easy to follow. There was less snow than the hike to High Lake.

I appreciate your info and am holding my breath for your photos as well. I have a group of people heading up to Long Lake for the Jul 4th weekend. We are planning a summit of Langley. I would love not to have to carry crampons/axe/helmet if possible. Already have tons of Deet packed! Currently I'm asking the group to bring full gear, but would love to tell them just Hillsounds. They would love me for that as well! I do hike Langley a few time each year, so I am used to navigating "the" cornice. I have used crampons some years and micros. I look forward to the photos. THANK YOU!

Good info! Thank you! Do you have any photos? I usually do end up going right from under the headwall... however each year it is a little different.

Bugs were not a problem for us. A few as we hiked in and hiked out. None at our camp on High Lake. Long Lake may be much different this coming weekend, so being prepared is a great idea.
In my opinion, NAP could not have been done on Saturday without crampons and ice axe.
Unfortunately I do not have photos, but hopefully Jeff's will show up soon.

Conditions may be considerably different a week later when you go, but we made the mistake of trying to stay on the trail high....which meant traversing icy snow fields twice for fairly long distances before arriving at the head wall. Alternatively we could have left the trail directly below the head wall and made out way up on dirt and rock. This is the way that we descended.

If one doesn't mind some easy scrambling, one can scramble up from Long Lake to an area just east of NAP and continue to Langley from there, with nearby Peak 12369 as a bonus.

After the route we took over the NAP cornice, the route that you describe actually looked pretty good as we descended.

Do you have any info on this route? Thx

Just when I was going to give you my vague recollections, I remembered this. Here is somebody else's version of the route:

Army Ridge route per SummitPost

Still sorting the photo issue, but since we're talking about alternate routes, if you don't mind taking a rope
there's always my preferred way to go...

As we descended past Long Lake on Saturday, it appeared that one could scramble directly up the couloir behind the lake vs. taking the ridge...as an alternative. Couldn't make out what the cornice might be. Both routes would top out at the same/similar point.

I've never ascended that route, but I've descended there a few times for convenience, always after climbing nearby Peak 12369 (aka Army Pass Point). Class 2.

I don't know if Jim or someone tried to send me a message.... with photos. My envelope is blinking but no messages?? Maybe you could send the photos via private message Jim?

Sorry, I meant Jeff

WOW! I would try that route! Not with a group though.

Wow Jeff! did you rent clampons to do red better buttress?

Yes, these. They work great in the sand and with an extra wire or string hanging off the front of them...

Also, if you've noticed, there's a world-wide photo posting issue (i.e. Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

That's right, always have a safety string attached to the opposite boot in case you throw a clamp-on. Nothing worse than losing one.

BFR and I dayhiked Langley by New Army Pass yesterday. The trail below the pass is completely covered in snow, and the cornice is overhanging everywhere. However, it was easy to ascend the rock and sand to the left of the pass all the way up. We did it all using hiking poles, and rarely used our hands on the rock. Class 2. It’s a bit out of the way and higher than the actual pass, but it beats turning around. Though you will have to cross some snow, crampons, ice axe, and gaiters are not necessary.