Allen Roberts, Allen Priest, Jim Moore and I climbed Mount Langley on June 8th. Mount Langley (14,026 feet) is the southernmost 14,000 foot mountain in California. It is 5 miles southeast of Mount Whitney, near the town of Lone Pine. The trailhead is at about 10,000 feet and is reached via the Horseshoe Meadows Road, which branches from the main Whitney Portal road.
We started the evening of June 7th by hiking approximately five miles into the first of the Cottonwood Lakes, which lie just south of the Langley summit. Our campsite was at about 11,000 feet and afforded good views of the summit and of New Army Pass, which is the preferred route.
Starting from Cottonwood Lake 1 at 6:15am, we reached the top of New Army Pass at 8:50am and the summit at approximately noon. There was little snow on the route, apart from a few drifts near the summit of the pass. The alternate route over Old Army Pass was less passable, with large slanted drifts near the crest. A couple of other parties came this way, but recommended use of an ice axe. Distance from Cottonwood lakes was about 6.5 miles.
The descent and hike out was longer than expected due to some altitude effects. We reached our campsite at approximately 7:00pm, packed up and hiked out. The truck came in sight at 10:30pm.