High Sierra Topix

I am planning to head up to Cottonwood Lakes on June 16 and was hoping to visit Miter Basin again. Does anyone know the status of the cornice at New Army Pass?

Thanks!

Only info I could find: https://www.mountwhitneyforum.com/ubbth ... ber=106894
You can also check some of the PCT journals.

Going over Cottonwood Pass is about the same mileage as New Army Pass, is 1000' less elevation gain and won't have a cornice. Not that this answers your question...
'

https://m.facebook.com/groups/sierratri ... tid=Nif5oz
this might help

I’ve been in the zone every weekend for the past month, including Saturday. There is still a wall of snow at the top… maybe the heat this week will speed the melt up, but who knows. The zone was holding more snow than last year at the same time - but New Army itself looked about the same. Yeah, I actually looked at photos from last year… apparently our hiking pattern has been the same both years

Not super recent, but see also https://old.reddit.com/r/JMT/comments/1 ... _pass_528/

I’m also going into Cottonwood Lakes on June 16th and hoping to clear New Army Pass to get into Miter Basin! My best resource as we get closer has been AllTrails. The Cottonwood Lakes Trail and the Mount Langley via Cottonwood Lakes pages both have had regular photo updates and, as of this weekend, some pretty solid reviews:

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/cali ... akes-trail

Recent review: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recor ... il-2cc73b2

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/cali ... nt-langley

I’ve walked some snowfields and hiked a glacier before, but nothing steep and exposed. So this will be a new challenge for me. I’ll have my microspikes and am planning on bringing along an ice axe for the first time. I’ll also have a first time backpacker with me - just to add another wrinkle. So I’ll need to find a path with minimal sketch factor.

If any lurkers have any advice or tips, I’m all ears!

Thanks all, great info!

Taken June 5 New Army Pass

I was at the top of NAP on 6/8. I came from the west and did not try to get down the east side. The snow at the top was about 30 feet of very steep soft snow. Folks had been doing it, there were footprints in the snow. I did not have an ice axe, was wearing traill runners, and did not have confidence in being able to control my descent, so I turned around. The weather was and has been warm, so it will have melted more by now. If i had an ice axe and boots , I would probably be comfortable going up it.