Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Mt Langley summit Oct. 10th and 11th

My daughter and I were planning on doing a little backpacking trip this coming weekend. We have a 20 and 0 degree sleeping bags, two man tent and warm clothes. We wanted to camp at cotton wood lakes Saturday night and summit Sunday mid morning. Does anyone know or might expect to know the trail conditions and what we sould expect. The weather changed on us and maybe we should re-think our plans. Appericate the advice.

Hi Casey,

Of course there will likely be snow for much of the hike - but it should be pretty do-able, at least to the lakes. The potentially dangerous part will be ascending the pass. I've only gone up Old Army Pass. There were parts that could be dangerous with slick snow. Safest to bring crampons/axes just in case. Above the pass, I would imagine that it would be passable with regular hiking shoes. Just surmising, though.

To summarize, my best guess is:
Trail to Lakes: light snow covering, but do-able in shoes
Pass: maybe a bit sketchy... crampons to be safe
Top of pass to summit: light snow covering, but do-able in shoes.

Old Army Pass could be pretty tricky with the snow. May be better off going up and over New Army Pass. Much better trail. Just a thought. Good luck.

Being a process kind of person, I'd go. Cottonwood Lakes is a great place recreate.

Generally, It is not he up which is that dangerous, it's the down and you have to make sure you don't go too high into conditions you are not prepared to handle. With that said, New Army Pass would be your insurance policy, it is broader thus less dangerous in less than optimum conditions.

When it snows in early October, the snow melts out in most places because there is not a lot of it in most places. Army Pass is mostly on a north wall; therefore, the snow will persist to some degree but will not be enough of it to make crampons and an axe effective tools.

Another advantage of New Army Pass is you get a better view of Langley and the various routes to it. If you feel blocked, you have the option of doing Cirque Peak.

If you plans change and you use NAP, I would travel through the S.F. of Cottonwood Creek drainage and South Fork Lakes and camp at the west end of Long Lake. This route will save you about 2 miles round trip.