Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Old Army Pass

Hi all, I am going to be camping and summiting Langley on Aug.25th and I was wondering how the old pass is doing. Also if anyone has camping spot tips for the lakes that would be helpful.

Thx!

Dan

I went up Old Army Pass about ~3-4 weeks ago. From the trail between the lakes it looks impassible as there was (is still?) a chunk of snow towards the crest. However, if you keep going down the trail eventually see where the switchbacks start. If you carefully follow the trail up (it is not obvious in spots) eventually you will get to the snow field. You can veer around it with some bouldering moves.

The trail up Mt Langley is marked with massive cairns. It is easy to follow.

The lakes would be a beautiful place to camp. There were lots of mosquitoes though, so you might want to bring repellent.

Thanks for the info!

-Dan

We summited Mt Langley via Old Army pass on July 29th trail is all clear of snow we did it as one day hike

Hi. I summited Mount Langley, going up via Old Army Pass (and down New) in September of 2016. The most current information from the NPS on the Pass this year is this:

"7/26 - Snow free but has suffered extensive damage from rockslide on steep slopes with high risk consequences. Experience with route finding and cross-country travel is required."

Since you summited in late July, you've seen what the park service is describing here. I take it it's not really an issue, but I'm curious to know if any of the sketchiness described looked like any kind of a problem... I'm planning a August 21 hike up Mt. Langley prior to my August 23rd ascent at Mt. Whitney.

Thanks!

-Bret.

Bret,

We are headed up Army Pass this Sat. the 18th.

We have the same ? and saw the NPS notice regarding the pass.

I sent a pvt. message to Luis but have not heard back yet.

Plan to be home Sunday nite the 19th and will try to post
what we discovered.

Jeff

That'd be awesome. My hike is planned for the 21st. Thanks!

Yes I will be camping by lake 3 and summiting Langley on Sat Aug 25th so I would be very interested to know about the rockfall & route-finding on the Old Pass!

In my opinion, Army pass is good for an non-maintained trail.

Camped at Lake 4/5 area on Friday.
Had approx 20 hikers who passed by after they had descended Army Pass.
The ones we talked to said it was no big deal.

We went up Sat am. 8/18
As we expected there was no trouble following the trail.
Topped out on Langley, and came home last nite.

The summit register note pad is full, people cramming in signatures
everywhere.

Jeff

Excellent thx for the info! Now I know I will have a great weekend! I'll be camping at the parking lot Horseshoe meadows on Friday night 24th and camping around lake 3 on Sat night. Langley in between. Cheers!

-Dan