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Hello out there! I was curious if anyone had been up to the cottonwood lakes area recently, and was aware of what the conditions are like? I am going for a 3 day backpack trip,to summit Langley. Have backpacking experience, i do have ice axe, and micro spikes......if needed. The plan was to pack in to cottonwood lakes for my base camp, and then on day # 2, summit Langley, and then pack out on day 3. We're going June 12-14. Any information on conditions for snow up there would be greatly appreciated. Also , Old Army, vs New Army pass conditions as well. Thanks in advance!

No need for microspikes, crampons, nor axe to summit via New Army according to this report:
http://www.highsierratopix.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=9744

You can see Old Army from Cottonwood Lake #4. It is not a long nor unpleasant walk over to New Army from there if you decide it looks sketchy from afar. If you see a bit of snow along the steep slope of Old Army and aren't sure about it from afar, it isn't that long of a walk to go part way up Old Army until you reach the potentially dangerous part and turn back if you don't like what you find.

Hey, do you know what the trail conditions are like leading up to cottonwood lakes...from cottonwood TH?

With the amount of snow we haven't received this year it should be clear sailing. Normally memorial day weekend is less than 50 percent snow coverage in that basin. My guess is old army is clear, but I haven't been to the sierra in over a year.

Most years if new army is corniced over you can by pass to the west over the boulder field.

Considering it has snowed over 11K' several times through Memorial Day wkend, Old Army still has some snow coverage as of June 8th. I would expect to have some snow where the trail crests onto the pass this wkend since the temps have been lower due to consistent storming this week.