My friend John and I parked on the Horseshoe Meadows road at ~9600', a mile and a half short of the regular parking lot, at the old trail start. We started hiking around 1 PM, and got to camp at Cottonwood Lake 3 around 5 PM. A beautiful night, no precipitation or wind, so our tent proved unnecessary. I was toasty in my 40 deg bag. There were a few mosquitoes, but they haven't yet figured out their mission in life.
On Sunday we started up a little before 7 AM. I wanted to climb a route I had done a couple of times before--it's a pass north of Army Pass--that's out of sight from the main Cottonwood Lakes. Decided it should have a title, and since I am Navy-connected, named it accordingly.
We were on the summit in 4.5 hours. John went back the way we had come up, but I wanted to check out Army Pass, so descended it. It was delicate. I had to face in, front pointing, kicking steps all the way down. My thighs were burning at the bottom. We met up back at camp.
There is a lot of info posted about the conditions up there right now, and I'll add to it with my pictures and captions. An overview is:
- New Army Pass still has a cornice. Couldn't tell how hard it is to surmount, but you can probably bypass it on rocks.
- Army Pass is still a real challenge. Don't try it unless you know what you are doing, or are feeling lucky.
- "Navy Pass" is straightforward. Not nearly as steep as Army Pass, and definitely safer. Probably less steep than New Army, too.
The weather was great. Perfectly clear in the morning, and sunny on the summit. Interesting cloud formations in the afternoon, but nothing threatening.
It was fun to play in the Navy - Army game.
Below is a shot of the last couple of hundred feet to Navy Pass:
Individual pictures are
here , or you can view the
slideshow version. 
