Approach from the Stone House. To reach the Stone House, make a left turn on the only light at Lone Pine and drive up the Whitney Portal Road to Horseshoe Meadow Rd. Make a left onto Horseshoe Mdw.Rd and follow it to Granite view Rd. Make a right turn on the road. Drive the slightly uphill road till the only structure/dwelling around. Just before the structure another dirt road branches right and uphill. There is a nice parking area about a mile or so along this road (for cars). If you follow the road up (high clearance might be required) in about one more mile, the road ends at the unmaintained trailhead to the famous Stone House, a structure in the Tuttle Creek Canyon. About an hour walk gets you there. From the Stone House take the left, South fork of Tuttle Creek. An old, indistinct trail leads to Keyhole Wall ( see Secor's 2nd Edition). The trail ends at Keyhole Wall. Cross the creek to the south and climb up talus and slabs to the base of the North Arete.

Route Description

Miguel Carmona and I climbed this route in 1999 after looking at it for some 20 years while driving through Lone Pine to other Sierra destinations. The route follows the first, most obvious arete of the North Face. At the start, there is a large tower that separates the ridge. The route starts at the notch between the tower and the arete at a yellow colored wall. We build a cairn there, showing the start. The route follows the arete for 15 pitches on good rock and ends at the summit register. The route was first climbed in September 1999 and we bivied on it once. In July of 2002, it had a second ascent. The 2nd ascent party managed to climb and descend to camp in one long (16+ hours) day. The long, curving gully that goes down and east from the summit was used for descent. Please note: It takes about 2.5-3.0 hours to get down via this talus and scree slope. Not recommended if you might get cought in it at the end of the day. I would not want to descend this in darkness. I have posted TR and couple of pictures of the best pitches.

Pitch 1 From the Notch, climb up past a short, left facing dihedral, go up into easier terrain (5.7) to the base of a large chimney capped by a big block (165').

Pitch 2 Climb up hand cracks (5.9) on the steep, yellow wall left of the chimney. Move up and toward a high right leaning ramp and follow it to the end (165').

Pitch 3 Climb up and left, then over and around cracks and chimneys (5.7/5.8)toward the left side of the prominent arete above you (165').

Pitch 4 You are now on the left side and at the base of the Third Tower. Traverse to the right on a ledge that takes you past the edge of the arete. Find a hidden crack (not visible from the belay), climb it to the top of the Tower(160', 5.7/5.8). Lower each other down to the notch of the Tower.

Pitch 5 Traverse left about 20', go up (5.8) to the base of the brown cracks (100').

Pitch 6 Climb the brown hand crack to a ledge 80' up. (5.9/5.10 Sustained).

Pitch 7 Continue up the brown crack to the top of the Fourth Tower (120', 5.9/5.10 Sustained).

Pitch 8 Traverse on the left side of the arete for 165', 5.3.

Pitch 9 Step around to the right side of the arete. Climb up an short awkward chimney, continue up to reach a large ledge at the base of the Fifth Tower. This is the best ledge on the route. (60', 5.8).

Pitch 10 Climb around the right side of the Tower (easy 5th) for 140' to the base of a chimney/crack system.

Pitch 11 Climb up the chimney (5.8) for 165' to the top of the Fifth Tower.

Pitch 12 Climb easy terrain on right side of the arete, then cross to the left side (165', 3/4 class)

Pitch 13 From here you can see the huge and smooth summit headwall of Langley. The route goes to the right, on the north side of the arete for 140'.

Pitch 14 Go up over large blocks and around the north face (140', 5.7).

Pitch 15 Climb up to the right side of the smooth summit headwall and directly to the summit of Mt. Langley (120', 5.7).

Essential Gear

Set of wires, Set of SLCDs (Friends), 3 small TCUs, many slings, 2x 8.5mm, 50 m ropes. The approach is free of snow by mid June. There is water at the top of the basin, flat spots for camp. Three day trip would be the norm. It takes about 5-6 hours to hike to the base from your car left at the Stone House TH (The lower one). If you manage to get your car to the upper TH (high clearance vehicle might be needed depending on time of year),deduct about an hour from the apperoach.

Miscellaneous Info

If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.

Images