Solo Hiking Mt. Langley (Better than Mt. Whitney With No Permit)

[@davidstepro7486]

Had to watch as I did Langley a few years ago similarly to your trek - all in one day. All of the hikers we encountered were doing the hike over two days. Twenty plus miles at 14,000 ft was the hardest thing I had ever done so my hats off to you. Brought back great memories - thank you!

[@jakekaiser1399]

Same here and was a long day but well worth it! I would love to camp next time just to have more fishing for golden trout time. Thanks for watching

[@hyenaswine]

Doing this Saturday starting at midnight. Day hike. Damn that shot of you walking towards the summit, along the ridge, makes it look very far away lol. Great video man!

[@jakekaiser1399]

Have a great climb and once you get to the ridge the summit is still a ways off but luckily pretty gradual in terms of elevation so it goes pretty quick. Thanks for watching!

[@hyenaswine]

@@jakekaiser1399 thanks! Do you think starting at midnight is too early? I go pretty fast, but plan on taking some breaks to acclimate slower. I usually start at midnight for Whitney, but this seems like a quicker hike.

[@jakekaiser1399]

@@hyenaswine I feel that is pretty early based on how long things took me and would expect Langley to be a bit quicker than Whitney (maybe 1-2 hours). This all depends on how long you plan on breaking, how fast you hike, and how much of the day you wish to spend up there but would personally take an extra hour or two of sleep. Hope this helps

[@hyenaswine]

@@jakekaiser1399 got it. Yeah i decided to start at 2am instead. Thanks my man!!

[@hyenaswine]

@@jakekaiser1399 I started at 2am and finished at 330pm. Exactly what I wanted. Very tough hike. 20% harder than Whitney I think. Once you make it up the pass, that's when the real hike starts lol. Everything before was just a warmup.

[@jazzfan7491]

Terrific video. Very useful. I'm in LA and hoping to do this mountain soon.

[@saltydog6241]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing your adventure with us. I just did Whitney a few weeks ago, and this seems like a reason to return. Gear videos are always fun, if you’re looking for ideas Subscribed!

[@harmonyway09]

Excellent video.Thanks for posting this.

[@LivingMoreFully]

Disappointed I wasn't able to snag a permit to Mt. Whitney this year as I was hoping to use the SoCal 6-Pack of Peaks Challenge to train for it. After watching your video, I'm no longer disappointed as you captured it so well and I love the idea of the trip being less populated than Mt. Whitney too. Impressive first video too!

[@jakekaiser1399]

Thanks for watching and I did this a month after my permit for Whitney could not be used due to a fire in the area shutting down access. On that trip I wound up farther north and had a great time checking out the Big Pine Lakes / Palisade glacier and Thousand Island Lake / Banner Peak. Langley is a great peak and hike and best of luck with Whitney permits!

[@LivingMoreFully]

@@jakekaiser1399 have done Mt. Whitney twice now and hoping I get to do Mt. Langley this year in September depending on conditions. Sounds like you recommend Old Army Pass both ways over New Army Pass so thanks for that recommendation.

[@jakekaiser1399]

​@@LivingMoreFully Have a great trip and I wound up going up new army and down old army pass and really liked this loop to add some variation in terrain and trail. I think I would do this route again unless I wanted to shorten the day a bit which doing old army both ways does. Only other note is that taking new army pass does make you gain extra elevation that you lose going down to where old army pass meets up which again makes the day a bit longer. I would do old army both ways if maximizing efficiency, new army up and old army down if wanting a little longer day and some more variation in terrain. I hope this helps and have a great climb!

[@LivingMoreFully]

@@jakekaiser1399 Thanks for the info/recommendations. I'm thinking of staying my first night at High Lake and then summiting Mt. Langley via New Army Pass the next morning. Sounds like it may be worth it to hall my fully packed backpack up, drop it off at the junction with Old Army Pass and then after summiting go down Old Army Pass to a different set of lakes to stay overnight. Thanks again! ....as long as Old Army Pass has no snow on it as I hear it can get sketchy that way.

[@jakekaiser1399]

@@LivingMoreFully Sounds like a great plan and also have heard old army can be sketchy with snow but would think you'll be good in September but always good to double check. If I were having a pack I would probably just camp near one of the Cottonwood lakes and be able to leave camp up on summit day and go up and down old army pass. This would reduce need for gaining vert with pack, avoid having a heavy load for the looser rock of old army pass, and allow you to only setup camp once. I feel this would be easier overall but again don't think you can go wrong and think your current plan would be great as well and allow you to see a couple different lakes.

[@chowboy44]

Great video bud, love the honesty. Haven’t been afraid for my life yet so I’ll just go fishing haha love it bud. Might just head up there next week! Thanks for taking us along

[@distractedmonkeydesign]

Just a comment on Old Army Pass vs New Army Pass, like you I prefer OAP but I wouldn't recommend it for most people early in the hiking season as it retains the winter snow in a particularly treacherous spot towards the top. A hiker died there earlier this season and their partner was injured. Recommend getting trail beta before you go. Thanks for the video on Mt Langley, one of my favorite day hikes.

[@jakekaiser1399]

Couldn't agree more and glad you stated this explicitly for people planning their hikes. The top of OAP is steep and dangerous with any snow or ice

[@rctheman5758]

Thanks for this video jake!

[@jamesbadham228]

I did -- or almost did -- Langley last summer but had altitude issues and turned back at about 13,900. Just needed a couple of more days to acclimate. But it is really nice up there and, especially for your first one, this was a good video - not overly chatty. Cheers.

[@GummyPlatypus]

Wow Jake, awesome video man!! Hard to believe you've never made a video before seeing as this was really well made and a pleasure to watch! Keep it up man, I'd love to see more vids of future summits!

[@jakekaiser1399]

Thanks so much. It turned out better than I expected and look forward to the next one

[@creeks-and-peaks]

Sweet video man! It's crazy how different Langley is from Whitney.

[@larryorabuena4941]

Very cool vid.

[@jakekaiser1399]

Thanks for watching!

[@ramullen1]

Nicely done. Will have to try this one. There are 15 - 14er peaks in California. Langley is the first going from South to North . Maybe the hardest to climb is North Palisades.

[@stevepaulson7087]

Really nice vid for the first time out. Good job!

[@jakekaiser1399]

Thank you! I have made videos since but still look back at this impressed with how well it turned out when I had no idea what I was doing haha

[@mtnyoda]

Great info and video bud! I love the way it was filmed and the sound. Good stuff and stoked you did this. Thanks for sharing. I am on the Whitney Portal Message Board on occasion. Mtn Yoda…

[@NatureBoy711]

kudos ! congrats on your first vid !

[@shaneheskett9075]

Very nice video Jake! Thanks for sharing!

[@charlesbritzman501]

GREAT video, and, may I say, great background music. 3X Langley vet here, always saw it as very special and most ways a better trip than Whitney. A lot of people bound for Whitney spend the day prior at Cottonwood Meadows just because it’s at 10K rather than Whitney Portal’s 8K, and the two trailheads are fairly close driving distance from each other. Your cinematography took me there and I felt pangs for the East Side.

[@jakekaiser1399]

Thank you very much and happy I got to take you back for a second. I miss the area as well and need to plan a trip to those eastern Sierra soon. Living in Colorado now makes it a longer journey but have to find the time.

[@charlesbritzman501]

@@jakekaiser1399 good to hear a Rocky Mtn guy with some love for the Sierra.

[@DavidStanton1023]

Very cool video, Jake. I'm inspired! Thanks for sharing.

[@jakekaiser1399]

Thanks so much! This literally being my video ever that means a lot

[@williamslopez1054]

Awesome first video! Thanks for sharing your journey. Backpacking Mt. Langley this weekend. Super excited

[@jakekaiser1399]

Have fun! I'm trying to get back up to the Sierras one more time this year at least

[@kneepayne]

Good stuff. We tried from the east (the ashram) and that was a bit of a mess. Partly, I think, was the lack of experience in the group. I think if it was me and one other we could have done it.

[@chili1593]

Good stuff and info thanks

[@michaeldeel6536]

Good job, loved the scenery.

[@stephsips]

BEAUTIFUL scenery! Not sure how you managed to go from sea level to 14,000 ft in 24 hours and not be completely dying. Well done.

[@jakekaiser1399]

The last couple miles were a bit of a struggle but luckily have had a very active summer and am in my best ever hiking shape

[@trwent]

The Owens Valley at Lone Pine is about 4000 feet above sea level. How do you know he was not there for 2 - 3 days prior to the hike?

[@stephsips]

@@trwent I know him personally :)

[@trwent]

@@stephsips I see.

[@swedeinla]

very nice....I am leaving LA in an hour, and doing Mt Langley this weekend. They are expecting light snow fall so not sure about new or old Army pass.

[@jakekaiser1399]

Best of luck and never been up there in snow but think it will depend on amount. A couple inches shouldn't matter

[@janetc5145]

Hi Jake, I really enjoyed your video. I'm planning to do Langley the end of this month. What kind of shoes did you wear? Do you have any other gear recommendations?

[@geobio_exploring]

Video clip from 10:31 to 10:48, did you walk up the hill to set up the camera, walk back down, then walk back up again? I am curious if you felt this way of video recording is not as authentic and more toward acting?

[@jakekaiser1399]

Yes that is the only way to do it solo. The climb takes more time with filming but hiking a mountain is hiking a mountain

[@lewisvanatta639]

Great video and trip report!. I live in the Bay Area, and want to summit some of the hikable CA 14er's; I snagged a permit for Langley a few days ago for late this summer. A couple of questions: 1) I've read that Old Army Pass has a class 3 move somewhere near the top, but I've never found any video or more information on this; what was your experience on that section? 2) It looked like above the Old/New Army pass area on the ridgeline to Langley, that the trail was well beaten if not downright obvious with some cairns (!). How hard is it find the route along there?

[@jakekaiser1399]

Thank you and best of luck with your Langley climb! My take of these questions is below: 1. I personally found Old Army pass very tame and would not call anything anywhere near class 3. This section was rockier and steeper than other parts of the trail but straightforward in my opinion and not technical. This was my personal experience but think most hikers would be comfortable here with a little extra time and care. 2. This section is easy to follow and large cairns mark the route very well. The only place to pay extra attention are when you hit the last rock bands prior to the summit as the more rock in this area makes spotting the cairns a little more difficult, however, all routes lead to the summit and there are a few different routes that easily lead to the summit.

[@trwent]

Mt. Langley has another important claim to fame: It is the southernmost 14er, not just in the Sierra, not just in California, but in the entire United States!!

[@jakekaiser1399]

I actually never knew that but makes sense. Thanks for sharing

[@trwent]

@Jake Kaiser Langley is CLEARLY the southernmost 14er in California, and the only other states with 14ers are Alaska, Washington (just one--Mt. Ranier), and Colorado. Eliminate Alaska and Washington for obvious reasons, and that leaves Colorado. The southernmost 14er in Colorado is Culebra Peak in the Sangre de Cristo range, summit at latitude 37 degrees 07' 20" North. Mt. Langley's summit is at latitude 36 degrees 31' 24" North, meaning it is closer to the equator than the summit of Culebra Peak, and therefore, Langley is the southernmost 14er in the US! 😀 (Now, if only I could find the little degree symbol on my smartphone!! 🤔)

[@1800marwin]

What month was this? Awesome video!

[@jakekaiser1399]

Thank you and this trip was in the middle of August

[@2heeldrivin431]

You mentioned your small pack, what brand/make is it and how did it turn out?

[@jakekaiser1399]

One this hike I used my Osprey Daylite which is 13 Liters. This size has been perfect for single day adventures like this but was very tight when bringing my fishing gear and new camera gear. I wound up getting a Black Dimond Nitro 22 to have a pack with a bit more room for single day adventures and also use it for shorter ski tours. This pack has been great but think the Osprey Talon 22 would have worked equally well in this size range. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

[@geobio_exploring]

Did you feel completely safe going down the Old Army Pass?

[@jakekaiser1399]

Yes . I found old army pass very tame

[@samuelpreciado1336]

What trail runners did you wear?

[@jakekaiser1399]

I've been using Topo trail runners for the past 4-5 years (various models but TerraAdventure is probably most re-purchased) They work really well for my foot (fairly wide) and I enjoy the wide toe box and minimal drop. These work well for me but think any trailrunner with good rubber that fits your foot is a fine choice and footwear is pretty individualized

[@samuelpreciado1336]

@@jakekaiser1399 awesome, thanks

[@ADM-wt9cn]

What shoes would you recomend for these type of 14ers? Are any trail runner fine?

[@jakekaiser1399]

It depends on the person but I only use trail runners for this kind of 14er and personally recommend that. Trail runners allow one to move faster (I run a lot to cover more ground), have less weight on ones feet (adds up after a long day), and are generally more comfortable. I also use trail runners on more technical ascents as well and only time I would consider something more boot like would be in snowy conditions , if carrying very heavy loads , or doing ~5.4 climbing that needs more edging capability. I hope this helps and think it's very personal but think everyone is better off in trail runners for these long non technical hikes yet would recommend they do shorter hikes in them first to make sure they work for them and if needed build stability and strength in the foot/ankle.

[@ADM-wt9cn]

@@jakekaiser1399 Your the man, thanks brew!! Figured trail runners would be perfect forit.. Thanks for the input