Headed up from the New Army Pass Trailhead, but veered left at the South Fork Trail Junction...

The meadow 2+ miles in was a soggy mess, but most of the rest of the hike to the NAP Junction was not bad...

Crossed paths with 4 people who expressed opinions on the Pass and got 2nd hand info about 1 other...

1 couple called it at High Lake...that's what I was going to do...

1 couple called it the most hair-raising part of their trip...They had gear (crampons ond axes) and said the descent of the cornice included slopes at about 40 degrees...

There was a solo climber who chose New Army Pass for his decent route after a successful summit of Langley and "rock climbed" it...(2nd hand info from the 2 other groups)

When I got to High Lake, I saw that a LOT of the lower Switchbacks were clear, so I headed up...I made it to 12,102' with only a little snow and scree detouring...76' short of the Pass...There were obvious tracks on the scree, so I think I could have followed, but decided for lunch and a walk back via the New Army Pass Trail (16 miles for the day)...

Interesting that the snow up high doesn't seem to be melting...no obvious water running off of the snowfields...Maybe Doug can explain his theory on (sublimation?)???

Lots of running water on the New Army Pass Trail on the way down...The Logs were mostly exposed at the stream crossing, so you can keep your feet dry...I wore waterproofs, so the trail water didn't bother me much this time out...I did slip at the end of the logs as I was stepping onto the far shoreline and filled my left boot with a bit of water...

Here are some photos:






I'm pretty sure that temp is inaccurate. but it was warm and humid (T-shirt weather, even at 12K...)









An overview of the snow situation downhill...

Hey Cayden was up there yesterday ,not sure how far he went or which trail
That sublimation thing is where change of state from solid to gas , so no liquid

Richard and Doug,

Thanks for this interesting observation/insight on sublimation. A study by the folks at the Barcroft Laboratory in the 1970s supported this as likely a very significant player in the Sierras and White Mountains.

Yosemite fans are familiar with the Matthes Crest, named in honor of Francios Matthes, a geologist and contributor to the USGS. In 1934 he noted,"the strongly sun pitted snow fields above 12,000 feet waste away during the summer without contributing a drop of water to the streams..."


If Cayden has any interesting observations from his outing up at Horseshoe, I would enjoy hearing them.

Jim

Does anyone have any updated conditions on New Army Pass as of 8/1/23? I'm hoping to go over the pass on 8/10 or 8/11 so still a bit of time for things to melt further but curious if anyone knows anything since the last posts on this. Thanks for whatever information you can provide.

I climbed Langley yesterday via NAP. Old Army is extremely dangerous and will not be passable for a few weeks at minimum. New Army is doable. There is a cornice and a pretty big snowfield at the last few switchbacks from the top. My son and I avoided this area completely and traversed to the right of the snow field at the last dry switchback and scrambled up to the pass. We have many, many years of class 4&5 skills. If you have intermediate/advanced climbing experience, not afraid of exposure, and can route find… then you can achieve the pass. Note that exposed class 3/4 climbing will be required. If you don’t have this skill, please wait until snow is absent from the pass.

Now, you can achieve NAP with ice axe and crampons on the snow field. The picture above that was posted on 7/25 is still an accurate representation of the current conditions as of 8/1. I have photos and videos but not sure how to post them here.
You can view them on my IG account: mtn.mike76 - they are viewable on my story and recent post.

Please be safe and have a wonderful trip.

Has anyone been up Old Army Pass in the past couple of weeks?

Curious to know about conditions. I assume that it's mostly clear by now. Weighing my options on New vs Old Army pass on a Langley summit bid.