Looking up the trail so to speak (in the photo below), there's a bit of trail visible along the lakeshore on the lower right. Old Army Pass starts to ascend up and leftward beginning at the end of the lake and continues to about 2/3 of the height near the mid left of the photo. The remainder of the climb heads to the right following the upslope visible in the middle, and reaches the saddle. There are numerous switchbacks through talus, some blocks of which are bigger than houses.
While we're breaking camp, a group of hikers pass by on their way up. This is a great chance to see where the trail goes, and it'll give you a bit of the scale. Standing there with stereo vision is one thing, trying to show it in a picture is another. A little while later the sun has moved and a picture is worth a thousand words. It's a bit blocky but you get the idea.
And in bright sunlight we reach the top of the climb from the lake, and go into Sequoia. Now the approach to Langley is less steep, at least for a ways...
As you can see, Langley is protected by lots of talus as we get closer. Only very ambitious and energetic people will actually make it all the way to the top by going straight up. We try a bit of it, and then decide to bear left horizontally and seek a more gentle angle to the north. Also notice the clouds starting to appear now it's early afternoon.
Now we've found a way up just as the clouds are starting to thicken. As the minutes pass, it looks more and more as if three darkening storms are converging.
The cloud front is getting thicker over Whitney and is moving kind of like a rolling movie in front of us, but it does seem to be slowly inching closer as well. Jackie and I decide to keep a close eye while continuing a bit further. For a little while, it's actually brighter...
On the top, it's a gradual slope to the official peak a few hundred yards away, but there's a great view towards Mount Whitney that's getting darker by the second. Now it's time to snap some tripod images before heading down out of the (now approaching) thick clouds.
So down we went. Off of Langley itself, and partway across the saddle, we could see a wall of rain slowly coming towards us from the right at an oblique angle. The wind picked up as we donned rainsuits, and we thought for sure it would hit hard in about ten minutes just as we would start the switchbacks. And the wind picked up some more, and the rain/sleet was just behind us a few hundred yards and starting to lick at us.
Nobody wants to be going down talus switchbacks with sleet and rain, but there's really no choice so just be slow and careful.
So we literally got from the saddle over the edge on the trail towards the lake below and began the first 100 feet of nice and dry trail. No sooner did we start down than we felt a brisk wind coming up from the lake (which was in the sun). It was as if we had gone through a doorway - the rain and wall of cloud chasing us down had stopped back beyond the top edge behind us, and all the way down we didn't catch any sight of it. Talk about luck.
The trip down from there on was uneventful, under sunny skies and strong upward wind. Back at camp, it was time for lots of food and rest. I actually got a bout of chills and shivering, probably becuase I hadn't eaten enough. Jackie and David were both fine, and thanks to Jackie's good cooking and a hot water bottle, I felt much better in a warm sleeping bag. You never know when something unexpected will happen in the mountains.
And there they are, amongst the talus, in the middle of the photo....
As soon as we come up from the trail to the broad saddle, we can smell the forest fire raging in Yosemite. Northward, the air has that bluish haze that's unmistakable.
