Mt Langley       (Oct 22-23 2005)

 2 Days       Total Miles- 21     Summit Elevation -14,042 ft    Trailhead Elevation -10,400 ft

I had been planning this trip and wanted to climb a high sierra peak before the winter hit.  I proposed the idea of this weekend trip (probably should have been 3-4 day trip) to Rob and he was all game.  The peak of choice was 14,042 ft Mt Langley.  It is the southernmost peak over fourteen thousand feet.  The trailhead elevation was 10,400 ft with a 3,642 feet of elevation gain to the 14,042 ft summit.  We would hike in 5 miles to cottonwood lakes to make base camp and then rise the next morning for the long climb to the summit, and then back to the car.

Going into this trip, I was a bit worried.  Calling the Lone Pine ranger station a few days before I was told, "winter conditions above 12,000 ft"  She continued to tell me the road to the trailhead might have some icy sections.  Also it was not encouraging to hear that someone had slid to their death on an icy slope on nearby Mt. Whitney just a week before.  And we would be heading out without any gear needed for climbing up steep snowy slopes.  But aside from that that the Gods were saying all go- the weather was looking to be very warm and clear throughout the weekend.  What I have learned from this trip is that the only way to really get current conditions is go up there yourself to take a look, we could always turn around if encountering severe "winter conditions."  After picking Rob up on Saturday morning we headed out of San Diego and then soon emerged from the fog to a crystal clear skies. 

We were then on 395 heading south when we both were like, Ohhhh boy.  What we saw was the first major peak (Olancha Peak) covered in snow up top.  The north side really looked like a deep powder field and we knew that Langley would be even higher.  We then pulled into Lone Pine and soon found the ranger station to pick up the permit.  Looking at the peaks from Lone Pines was also not looking good with the couloirs especially filled in with snow.  From the parking lot looking west you could not miss Langley, Lone Pine Peak and the highest mountain in the continental US Mt Whitney rising above.  Walking in one of the first things I ask knowing the answer is, "Is there a lot of snow up there?".  He replies, "Any mountain at 14,000 ft will have 2-3 feet of snow.  Rob and I instantly start laughing waiting for him to follow up with, "you boys got your ice axes and crampons."  The only thing that I am now holding on to is that a majority of our route is south facing which should have much less snow except we were worried about Old Army Pass that we would have to climb to get to the ridge. We also looked at summitpost.org and saw some pics of the route dated 2 weeks earlier and the snow looked patchy. 

 Up Horseshoe Road we were in fantastic spirits, the weather so crisp and fresh.  We pulled up the trailhead and were off by 2:00 pm.  I felt the elevation a little bit as soon as I got out of the car.  It would have been a good idea to stay at a lower elevation before heading up to camp at 11,000 ft but we only had the weekend to work with. Soon after our hearts were pounding and going a mile a minute from the elevation and our minor headaches kicked in that would last the whole trip.  We started seeing small amounts of snow in the shady areas of the trail.  People on the trail told us that cottonwood lakes were clear and that was good to hear.

The golden colors of fall looked fake with the mountains blanketed in a layer of snow.  We then emerged over a knoll and we walked into cottonwood lakes basin with Mt Langley looming directly to the North.  We took pictures for a while and felt good to be in such landscape.  No wind, warm, so completely silent of any noise.  It was good change for sure.  Movie

We hiked farther to the very end of the basin hiking by cottonwood lakes 1,2 and 3.  I read a lot about how they are wonderful places to fish for the rare high sierra golden trout, and did see one guy fishing.  Old Army pass was still out of view until we rounded and climbed a small hill.  The first thought that came to mind was that it looks dicey for sure, containing a considerable amount of snow.  It was hard to tell how steep and exposed it would be to climb.  I got Robs binoculars and could see a faint set of tracks crossing the snow near the top.  We found a good camp directly in front of the pass and cottonwood lake 4.  It got dark fast and the moon was not out yet making the milky way stand out directly above.  All in all we had a great day- scenery, weather, camp, lovin it.  Tomorrow would be the big day when we would leave our packs here and take just a daypack and water to the summit.  When we went to sleep their was no wind and then in the middle of the night these gusts came out of nowhere, you could here them a few seconds before they would hit the tent.  After about 2 hours they stopped and it was back to calm as day.  Rob seen here at camp with old army pass in the background.

Day 2

The worst I felt on the whole trip was when I woke up in the middle of the night feeling really crappy from the elevation.  Instead of just laying there feeling no good not being able to sleep, it felt better to get up pre-dawn and get ready for the big day. We pumped water as the sun just started to light up the horizon.  It was then decided that we would do a pre-dawn recon to get a closer look at old army pass.

 II eventually had to hike about a third of the way up to see how the snow was.  Returning back to Rob I said, "It looks like a lot of fun."  The snow was soft and powdery and their was a route that was packed in just enough.

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 Back at camp we packed our daypacks and were off at 9:00 AM. 

We took our time ascending the pass.  We each had one of my trekking poles to help have a stable hold on the slope.  Some sections were a bit exposed, but the snow was safe to travel across. 

IThere was a sense of relief when we topped out on the pass.  After that I knew we would be able to make the summit.  It was a strange snow patched barren world on top.  It was a great view of the impressive Kaweah range to the west.  After a short section we got our first glimpse of the route all the way to the top.  It was a long sloping ridge that then got much steeper towards the top.

 On the way up I happened to spot a group of about 8 bighorn sheep.  A bit latter they were back in front of us.  Two of them turned in did about a 10 ft bluff charge.  They were still about a 100 yards away but we changed out route a bit to head around them as much as possible.  As we got closer to the summit a decision had to be made on a route to take.  I picked out a line that looked like a direct way to the top and avoided looked like it avoided any chutes.

Our heads still providing a dull headache.  Rob seemed to slow up a bit and yelled up to me that he needed to eat something.  Rob also said something about not having enough time to make it back to the trailhead before dark.  As this time I was 100% committed to making the summit and not had even thought about daylight being an issue.  We continued on.

] Our route up Langley from the Cottonwood lakes basin.  The section where we headed up to the summit ridge was quite steep and had brief class 3 (use of hands) sections.  At the top of the scramble their was a considerable amount of snow near the summit.  Probably 3 feet in some places but their was still lots of rocks to avoid the snow at least half the time.

 Then I saw the summit register and was hit by a wave of vertigo.  To the north and east of me was a cliff that dropped off thousands of feet.  No more hiking it was time to just sit back and enjoy the view and it was quite a sight.  Rob joined me a few minutes later and it took no time before we started grinding down our lunch.   It felt so good to stand on the top because of all the uncertainties that we faced on old army pass and what we heard from the rangers prior to the trip.  I felt the elevation but not much worse than how I felt when leaving camp that morning.

   Mt Whitney elevation 14,494 shown here directly to the north.

 Looking East 10,000 ft down to Lone Pine.

 Looking South

Movie

  The summit marker and Whitney.

  We took a slightly more difficult route down to the ridge and ended up in fun down climb.

It was a long day.  We hiked for a total of 9 hours from camp, to the summit, and then all the way back to the lot.

My quote of the day that I repeated to Rob a few times during the long march down was, " It does not have to be fun to be fun. "  I cant remember where I first heard this quote about mountaineering, but it seemed to fit the end of the day perfectly. We were in a rush after picking up our packs at base camp because we knew that we only had 2 hours of daylight left with a 3 hour hike left.  The last few miles were ready to be done. Rob exclaimed that he never had so many things hurt at once.  It really did start to turn into a test of physical and mental endurance and we trudged on.  It was now dark when we walked back into the parking lot.    We cruised down the steep road and left Lone Pine and arrived back in SD at midnight. I joked with Rob on the drive home on how crazy it was that we were just on the same highway only the day before,  It felt like a week or more.  The trip took a lot out of us but I think we were both really happy with a sense of accomplishment.  For our first peak over 14,000 feet it was perfect.  Cottonwood basin was a beautiful place to set up camp and arise the next morning for the easily followed ridge to the top.

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