Thanks for your TR. I plan on hiking up to Langley next week. I searched for newer posts and I found yours. I plan on doing the one day trip and the only one thing that scares me out there is to make a wrong turn and lose day time. I'll print your TR and take it with me on my hike. Keep up with the 14ers. It's a lot of fun. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.
I was there on Wed, Jun 25 (one week ago). Your concern about going off course and wasting precious daylight is right on track. I hiked 23 miles roundtrip, but only made it to 13,200 ft (about a mile from the summit) before I decided to head back to the car. I didn't start until 6:15am, which was a mistake; I should have started at least an hour and a half earlier. Mind you, I took New Army Pass, because there was still a lot of snow near the top of Old Army Pass. I have no experience hiking in steep snow, and the only gear I have is hiking poles and microspikes. Even New Army Pass had some snow near the top. It took only about six steps to cross it, but they were some of the scariest steps I've ever taken. By now I'm pretty sure that snow is gone, but Old Army might still require ice axe and crampons. Check here for updates: http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/trailcond.htm#CP_JUMP_115630
Also, the route from New Army to Old Army was not at all obvious, so I probably added a 1/2 mile each way in that area, unnecessarily. Once you get to the trail near Old Army, the trail is pretty obvious and marked with several small cairns (some with orange tape) until you summit the penultimate ridge at about 13,000 ft, then you need to find a route to the real summit. When I was there, several rangers were marking the primary route with large cairns (rock piles about 5 feet long), so by now it might be much more obvious than when I tried it. The easiest route from 13,000 ft takes you to the left (west) quite a way around the steep cliff of rocks, but I didn't feel I had time to find it. I plan to try again soon, but I will have more information (would love to have someone's track loaded on my GPS), and will either start earlier or take more than one day, or take Old Army Pass, if it's clear of snow. If Old Army is clear, it should save time vs. New Army. One good plan is to ascend New Army, and then check out Old Army on the way down, and descend that way only if it looks clear.
I hiked it today! 7/3/14
Went up on Old Army Pass. Summited in 5 1/2 hours. Came down New Army in 5 1/2 hours! 11 hours roundtrip. New Army is looooong. I also stoped and talked to anyone that I met on the trail. There were still rangers building those cairns today. A little snow on Old Army at the top (about 30 steps) but there are good foot steps to use. I had no trekking poles and managed pretty well. My gps said 21 miles roundtrip.
A friend and I did it on Saturday, July 19, 2014. We camped Thursday night at Horseshoe Meadows to get acclimated. Friday we were about 4th in line when the Lone Pine Interagency Visitor Center opened at 8am and the ranger came out and had us draw #16 out of a box (that kinda sucked), but we lucked out and got our free wildernes permits. After an excellent huge breakfast at the Alabama Hills Cafe and a fill-up at the Shell station just north of town, we drove back to Horseshoe Meadows and hiked to High Lake where we camped for the night. We left High Lake at 7:20am Saturday and ascended New Army Pass, summited Langley at 10:10am, descended Old Army Pass, and walked a lovely little-used trail along the east side of Cottonwood Lake #4 to get back to the New Army Pass Trail to High Lake. We spent Saturday night at High Lake again, but it rained quite a bit and at 6:30am Sunday we headed for the car through rain, hail, and lightning, but it was clear about two miles from the car, so we stopped and cooked breakfast before continuing on.
We took what I think is the safest route from about 13,200 ft elevation to the summit of Langley by following the cairns that the rangers have built. The route starts roughly 0.1 mile left of where the trail crests the 13,200-foot high ridge just below Langley. There was only one very short section of class 3 rock climbing at the base of the route (where I turned around on my 1st attempt over 3 weeks earlier), then from then on it was just hiking all the way to the summit, and it took us only 50 minutes.
Old Army Pass had a blockage near the top due to a recent avalanche and still just a bit of snow, so we did a very short section of class 2 climbing on a detour just below the blockage, then back up to the trail. After that it was just a steep narrow zig-zag hike all the way down to Lake #5. Definitely not a good route for those scared of heights.
Diesel - Jun 24, 2014 3:26 pm - Voted 10/10
Looks like funThanks for your TR. I plan on hiking up to Langley next week. I searched for newer posts and I found yours. I plan on doing the one day trip and the only one thing that scares me out there is to make a wrong turn and lose day time. I'll print your TR and take it with me on my hike. Keep up with the 14ers. It's a lot of fun. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.
ScottWhitneyBound - Jul 3, 2014 12:20 am - Hasn't voted
It is a fun hikeI was there on Wed, Jun 25 (one week ago). Your concern about going off course and wasting precious daylight is right on track. I hiked 23 miles roundtrip, but only made it to 13,200 ft (about a mile from the summit) before I decided to head back to the car. I didn't start until 6:15am, which was a mistake; I should have started at least an hour and a half earlier. Mind you, I took New Army Pass, because there was still a lot of snow near the top of Old Army Pass. I have no experience hiking in steep snow, and the only gear I have is hiking poles and microspikes. Even New Army Pass had some snow near the top. It took only about six steps to cross it, but they were some of the scariest steps I've ever taken. By now I'm pretty sure that snow is gone, but Old Army might still require ice axe and crampons. Check here for updates: http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/trailcond.htm#CP_JUMP_115630
Also, the route from New Army to Old Army was not at all obvious, so I probably added a 1/2 mile each way in that area, unnecessarily. Once you get to the trail near Old Army, the trail is pretty obvious and marked with several small cairns (some with orange tape) until you summit the penultimate ridge at about 13,000 ft, then you need to find a route to the real summit. When I was there, several rangers were marking the primary route with large cairns (rock piles about 5 feet long), so by now it might be much more obvious than when I tried it. The easiest route from 13,000 ft takes you to the left (west) quite a way around the steep cliff of rocks, but I didn't feel I had time to find it. I plan to try again soon, but I will have more information (would love to have someone's track loaded on my GPS), and will either start earlier or take more than one day, or take Old Army Pass, if it's clear of snow. If Old Army is clear, it should save time vs. New Army. One good plan is to ascend New Army, and then check out Old Army on the way down, and descend that way only if it looks clear.
Good luck!
Diesel - Jul 3, 2014 11:14 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: It is a fun hikeI hiked it today! 7/3/14
Went up on Old Army Pass. Summited in 5 1/2 hours. Came down New Army in 5 1/2 hours! 11 hours roundtrip. New Army is looooong. I also stoped and talked to anyone that I met on the trail. There were still rangers building those cairns today. A little snow on Old Army at the top (about 30 steps) but there are good foot steps to use. I had no trekking poles and managed pretty well. My gps said 21 miles roundtrip.
ScottWhitneyBound - Jul 21, 2014 11:50 am - Hasn't voted
Re: It is a fun hikeA friend and I did it on Saturday, July 19, 2014. We camped Thursday night at Horseshoe Meadows to get acclimated. Friday we were about 4th in line when the Lone Pine Interagency Visitor Center opened at 8am and the ranger came out and had us draw #16 out of a box (that kinda sucked), but we lucked out and got our free wildernes permits. After an excellent huge breakfast at the Alabama Hills Cafe and a fill-up at the Shell station just north of town, we drove back to Horseshoe Meadows and hiked to High Lake where we camped for the night. We left High Lake at 7:20am Saturday and ascended New Army Pass, summited Langley at 10:10am, descended Old Army Pass, and walked a lovely little-used trail along the east side of Cottonwood Lake #4 to get back to the New Army Pass Trail to High Lake. We spent Saturday night at High Lake again, but it rained quite a bit and at 6:30am Sunday we headed for the car through rain, hail, and lightning, but it was clear about two miles from the car, so we stopped and cooked breakfast before continuing on.
We took what I think is the safest route from about 13,200 ft elevation to the summit of Langley by following the cairns that the rangers have built. The route starts roughly 0.1 mile left of where the trail crests the 13,200-foot high ridge just below Langley. There was only one very short section of class 3 rock climbing at the base of the route (where I turned around on my 1st attempt over 3 weeks earlier), then from then on it was just hiking all the way to the summit, and it took us only 50 minutes.
Old Army Pass had a blockage near the top due to a recent avalanche and still just a bit of snow, so we did a very short section of class 2 climbing on a detour just below the blockage, then back up to the trail. After that it was just a steep narrow zig-zag hike all the way down to Lake #5. Definitely not a good route for those scared of heights.