Hello, I have a permit along with 4 friends to hike/camp at Cottonwood Lakes and (hopefully) summit Mt. Langley starting on June 11th. The NOAA snow report shows the lakes at 0.8" of snow today. Has anyone been up there recently, since 5/17/24 to take stock of the area?

Has anyone got eyes on New Army Pass and how how the snow is looking up there? I've read and seen pictures from past years hikes where you sometimes have to traverse a snow field. Just trying to get a sense of how open things will be/are around there, and scratch at the crystal ball for our permit date. I appreciate your responses in advance. Many thanks!!

New Army Pass may have a cornice blocking the trail. In this photo from a few years ago you see the trail in the lower right and the pass is at the top. It is steep and may be icy. You should pick a spot and go straight up, crampons would be good here. It is a beautiful area you will enjoy it.


New Army MAY 2013 (12) by Frank Asbury, on Flickr

Thanks so much for your reply and the great info! So if there was no snow, would you need to head strait up the mountain here to get to the top of the pass? I have seen in some videos that there is a section where you climb up some boulders. I haven't done this hike before, so it's hard to get a sense of where the cornice is.

New Army Pass reaches the ridge and down to the west , at the ridge is the cornice area and a use trail heads towards(north east'ly )Mt Langley. Near the summit area you will need to climb a few boulders ,hundreds of choices. Summit area is some what flat and often the register is hard to find , but a great hike awsome view that you don't get on Whitney, so a ranking of hikes in the area is Lone Pine Peak # 1 for views and Langley #2 and Whitbey a distance #3 (trail crest equeal #3 and should often be a summit for a day hike.