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

In September 2006, I climbed Langley via Old Army Pass. Since it was a late-summer hike, there was no snow.

I'm going to Langley again on June 19-20, and will bring along ice axe and crampons. A couple of questions:

Are snowshoes necessary?

Which route is better in June, Old Army Pass or New Army Pass?

Snowshoes are unlikely. Usually New Army is a safer route until mid- to late summer. I haven't seen any trip reports/photos yet this year on the passes as the Horseshoe Meadows road only opened two days ago.

Thanks for the response. I'll check out SummitPost and other websites for information about New Army Pass, since I haven't taken that route yet. We're planning to camp one night at Cottonwood Lakes, before the June 20 summit attempt.

If by "better" you mean less snow and ice, New Army should be your choice. But it won't be ice free in late June this year. There was an ice related fatality on Army last July and conditions should be worse this year.

Our group has experience with ice axe and crampons, on slopes up to 40 degrees. It would be good to have some tracks to follow. I'm thinking that even though the New Army Pass route is longer, it might be easier to follow.

Am thinking of doing Woolyback later this week. If I do, and have a clear view of conditions on Old Army I'll post it here.

This is a bit more complicated, than at first glance.

Until August, (old) AP(north facing) is a snow climb, best done with gear. I don't recall a cornice being a major problem, although it develops one.

Generally, by around July, NAP(south facing) is clear of snow.

So, choices are clear. However, June is the problem. AP definitely a snow climb.

NAP is in transition of snowmelt in this time frame. It is generally heavily corniced, and it is much steeper than AP. Partway through the transition, it becomes possible to get off the trail partway up, and climb rock (3rd, 4th) to get over the top. NAP during this time may be impossible, or very easy.

No trip reports from that area, yet.

So....as a wild guess at to planning, I would plan for a snow climb of AP, with a backup of NAP, if it is ready. (although I'd probably do AP, personally, as I just enjoy it more, of the two, and you do save a 1,000 feet of climbing compared with NAP)

There is still a ton of snow up high. We did the crampon thingy at 9,800' yesterday on the Meysan Lakes Trail.

You are going to see a ton of snow on the 19th, if you use either of the aforementioned passes. Another option is Cottonwood Pass down to the Army/New Army Pass spur then ascend. It will be longer but it will safer.

The earliest I've hiked over NAP is the 3rd of July. The cornice above the trail collapsed while I was in the process of summitting Langley.

Thanks for the responses. After the above-average snowfall this year, I'm thinking that the conditions on June 20 will be similar to conditions in mid-May of a normal year. So I'm going to search for trip reports from May 2008, May 2009, etc. Also, I'll check the "California" forum on SummitPost for recent trip reports.

Hi Mescalito,
Check out these pics from May 2008. We decided to climb NAP as the snow melts out there way quicker than AP. Even so, it took some looking to find the easiest way up the pass as there was still plenty of snow, including cornices, on NAP. If you do decide to go that way check out the far right side of NAP as that was the part that seemed the best for ascending. As Ken said, it included both snow climbing and a little class 3 rock, but didn't seem terribly difficult, especially for someone who is experienced.
BobR was up there that same day and climbed the main part of the NAP in a party of 4, and they went straight up through the cornice, although they had a bit more gear and a rope.

Mt. Langley pics

Good luck!

Thanks, Mark. On page 6 of your SmugMug photos, there are some good pics of the route to the pass.

I also found the following trip report on SummitPost. There was a lot of snow in 2005 (El Nino), so conditions this year are probably similar.

Old Army Pass, June 2005

You can prepare for it to be like it was in June 2005, but it does not seem to be as heavy a snow year in the Southeastern Sierra this year as it was in 2005. It seems like the amount of snow in the western and northern part of the Sierra might be above average, but the southeastern part is about average (whatever that might be). Sometimes June is really stormy though, so it's pretty hard to predict what you'll run into.

Look for reports from 2005. This year resembles that more and the years you have mentioned. We did Cirque in both '05 and '06 the same weekend. New Army Pass looked anything but doable from Cirque either year.

Interesting data on Cottonwood Lakes and snow:

http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/snowQuery_ss?course_num=221&month=%28All%29&start_date=2005&end_date=2010&data_wish=Retrieve+Data

Thanks, wingding. How's it going? I hiked with you to Moapa Peak a few years ago.

After looking at the Old Army Pass photo from June 2005 (see link above), it seems like there is a steep but direct couloir from the lake to the pass. That route might be easier than the mixed rock and snow route to NAP.

On May 30, New Army Pass looked passable. Trail was covered in snow, but there was a large cornice-free stretch in the middle. A better route would be to ascend the rocks to the west of the pass. The rocks are largely snow-free and are only class 2. Snow was firm and snowshoes were not needed.

It's going good Paul. I keep up with some of your adventures through your smugmug galleries. I enjoy looking at other people's photos as much as I like taking photos. Snow conditions were wonderful in the Oak Creek/Baxter Pass area this past weekend - I hit patchy snow above 9,000 and didn't hit consistent coverage until close to 10,000'. The snow was so consolidated, I was able to glide along on top of the snow all the way to Diamond Peak - no sun cups yet either. Anyway, it seems like the melt off is about 3 weeks faster than in 2005 when we hit solid snow in the same area at 10,000' the first weekend in July. Everything changes as you go north or west in the Sierra where there is a lot more snow.

Also, chances are people will be up in that are not long before your trip and will report back on conditions; so you should have a good idea what to expect before you head out.

I did Woolyback today, and it has excellent views down into the Cottonwood basin and surrounding peaks. As others have pointed out, there's still lots of snow above 10K. The only lake which appeared to have some open water was Hidden Lake. Used binoculars to look at Old Army Pass - it's about 2 miles away - and the chute immediately to the right appeared to have a small cornice which might be avoided by going left. Above the chute it appears to have melted down to the dirt.

New Army and Navy are also heavily snowcovered. Navy has a decided cornice.

If you'd like a photo to zoom in on, PM me with your email address.

Thanks, Kevin. I just sent you a PM.

I've looked at several photos of Old Army Pass on SummitPost, taken over the last few years. It seems like several groups have taken the main snow chute that leads to the pass. Most likely, our group will also follow that route on June 20.

Looks like we'll have a group of 8 hikers on June 19-20. Thanks again for all of the information about OAP and NAP. I'll post some photos after we get back.