- This is part 1 of the Northern Palisade saga trip report series.
- Part 2
- Part 3
- Part 4
The following 5 day trip was an amazing eye-opening experience for me! Never had I seen mountains like this before. For those who have not seen the Palisades up close nor touch or heard them will not understand how different they are from the rest of the Sierras. I didn't know this going in. As I found out, I was vastly under prepared for not necessarily the technical aspect of climbing (although I still was) in the Palisades but just the shear scale and corresponding psychological stress of being in such a harsh environment.
In fact, that is one of the best parts of spending time in the Sierras - the welcoming relaxing environment. Summertime in the Sierras is warm, mostly dry, and relativity threat free compared to other mountain ranges. As I was about to find out spending 3 nights next to the glacier and camped literally atop a boulder - this place was far from what I knew.
Background on the Palisade Region as a whole:
I suppose it is unofficially defined has the region along the Sierras crest from Bishop's Pass to South Fork Pass. Split Mountain used to be called the South Palisade, but has been renamed.
- Although the Red Lake drainage and Split Mountain are also spectacular places, they do not compare to the heart of the Big Pine drainage. Read my Trip report on Split Mountain HERE.
I feel most people are talking about the Big Pine drainage - both south and north forks when they talk about being in the Palisade region. The west side of the Palisade Region (Dusy Basin and Palisade Basin) are pretty cool places, but do lack the harshness that can come with the eastern side.
- Trip report to the North Palisade via Dusy Basin approach HERE.
Like the Whitney region, plenty of California's 14er peak are located in this region. Those are:
What the heck is an unofficial mountain you ask? Good question, I didn't know either, but apparently you have to define a mountain high point somehow. The USGS defines it as "Having at least 300 feet of interpolated prominence." This does make sense, otherwise the just next high point along a ridge would have to be a mountain. Good case in point is that Mt. Whitney is the highest pinnacle along a huge ridge line. What about the others next to it - Keeler Needle, Day Needle, etc? Since their high point is not greater than 300' difference from the point next to it - it's not an official peak.
So then, our objective was to tick off at least the two official summits (Mt. Sill & North Palisade) also try to bag some of the others. I put maximum effort in to researching beta for this trip. In particular I scoured the internet for info on our proposed climbing routes. Our 5 day trip to the Palisades would look like this....
- Day #1 - Drive in, hike up the the 3rd lake camp.
- Day #2 - Approach the glacier and camp, rest for the following day.
- Day #3 - Climb Mt. Sill via the "North Couloir via Glacier Notch", then traverse over to Polemonium Peak, descend via the U-Notch.
- Day #4 - Climb Thunderbolt via the "Underhill Couloir", then traverse over to North Palisade, hitting Starlight along the way, descent again via the U-Notch.
- Day #5 - Hike out, drive home.
As we know now - this is the most ridiculous itinerary ever. It would take years of climbing and alpine experience to recognize this. Although we did eventually do the traverse from Thunderbolt to North Palisade, it was years later and via the western approach. I now know that this attack on the palisade is generally only climbed via one way - The uber famous Grade IV -Thunderbolt to Sill Traverse.
So yeah... with all that said.... this is our story!
Monday May 21st 2012:
It was a 4:00am start in Fresno, making the
North Fork Big Pine trail head by noon. This was my second trip up the Big Fork drainage, with our
prior attempt on the Middle Palisade back in 2010. Opposed the the south fork trail, the north trail head has a much larger parking lot and generally sees a lot more traffic (backpackers/rock climbers/fisherman). A hot but otherwise pleasant day greeted us at the trail head elevation of 7,700'. By 12:30 we were on the trail climbing out of the initial lower bowl where both forks meet.
Above: Warm but otherwise not too bad as the trail climbs moderately away from the confluences of both south and north fork's of the Big Pine creek.
Below:After the hour, the trail climbs out of the desert landscape and back in the forest. The trail then follows the north fork creek which was high from the on going spring melt.
Above: A rattler cuts me off on the hot trail!
A little backstory on the cabin:
- The stone cabin hikers pass along the trail is marked as a Ranger Cabin but was originally owned by actor Lon Chaney, the Man of a Thousand Faces. Chaney is well known for his leading roles in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Phantom of the Opera. He had the cabin built in the late 1920s for $12,000. The building was designed by noted architect Revere Williams.
From the trail head, it's 4.5 miles to the First Lake, then another, 0.3 to the Second Lake, and then lastly 0.8 to the Third Lake which was our camp for the night. The views of Temple Crag from the 2nd Lake are unbelievable!
We reached our camp about 5:30pm, exhausted from the haul up the hill and out long drive in from Fresno.
First Day Stats:
- 4:00am launch from Fresno
- 5.5 miles hiked with 2,800' gain.
- Pack weight = 45lbs.
Tuesday May 22nd 2012:
By 7:00am we were both on the trail again steadily climbing to the intersection of the North Fork trail and the Glacier Trail. Again, the views of Temple Crag only got better and better as we climbed further out of the drainage.
Within about a miles of the leaving the 3rd lake, we reached the intersection with the Glacier trail. From this intersection, it's about 3 miles to the
Palisade Glacier, but the last mile or so is very rough cross country.
Above: Intersection of the North Fork and Glacier trails, looking at the amazing Temple Crag - The
Dark Star Buttress seen.
Below: The trail IMMEDIATELY hit large snow banks on the climb up to Sam Mack Meadow (11,000'). Pictured below, Russ can been seen on the opposite side of the creek in Sam Mack meadow.
Above: It took a total of five hours to make it to our camp at the glacier. More on that later, but the last few miles of the trail disappeared which didn't matter much since we had to fight with large drifts of snow. The high mountain pictured is
Mount Gayley.
Below: This being our first time on this approach, many mistakes were make. In particular -
where exactly did we want to camp? I assumed there would be flat sites near the glacier - wrong. In future approaches this picture shows clearly the use trail just behind Russ at the base of the small cliff band, this is where it begins the wrap around the glacial moraine towards what is known as
Gayley Camp.
Above: Instead of following the use trail around the eastern terminal of the moraine (we didn't even see it), we climbed some slabs that lead us to a direct approach to the glacier and it's associated
tarn. Here we got our first total view of the heart of the Palisades.
Below: Cool air temp but burning up like an oven from the reflection of the snow and ice.
Above: We arrived at the center of the moraine and the tarn by 12:30. Applying normal camping principles I just assumed we would go down to the lake to get water. Couple of things right of the bat that went wrong with that idea. 1) Still mostly frozen, and the edges were impossible to get to without falling in. 2) The water was extremely dirty?! This didn't make sense - but as I started to figure out, all the melt water was full of slit and dirt from thousands of years of being frozen with rock.
Below: There were ZERO flat sites that could be found by either of us. We split us for about 30 minutes in attempt to find flat sites (Note: This was years before knowing about Gayley and Fischer Camp). We found the BOULDER. Ask anyone who has been to the Palisade glacier and they know this boulder. We spend the next 3 nights on this thing.
The rest of the day was spent figuring out our water situation. We could melt snow, but we had not planned on that thus not enough fuel to last us the whole trip. A few small drips here and there could be found, but Russ employed the black trash bag method. Take snow - put it in a black bag, and let the sun melt it - poof - water, just not much of it.
The light show setting across the Palisade range that evening was pretty amazing. However, our site was really less than desirable because not only was it not very flat but the wind always blew making for constant noise with the tent. I really wasn't expecting this extremely harsh environment like what we had encountered, but we had an early night with tomorrow being a big day.
Day Two stats:
- 3.5 miles hiked, 2 of which was rough cross country over snow drifts.
- 2,000' gain
Wednesday May 23rd 2012:
Spending the night over 12,000' is hard on the body. I had only done that twice before (approach to Whitney and
Williamson). We departed our "boulder camp" by 5am without the use of headlamps to chill not too cold of conditions. Immediately, the first thing I noticed was that I was out of breath and already moving at a slow pace within the first 10 minutes. This was going to be a long day.
Above: In all my years in the Sierras, I've seen some spectacular alpine glow sunrises/sets, but this one took the cake. Our object today would be to climb Mt. Sill via the
North Couloir. Afterwards, we would then
traverse left to right (as seen in the photo) over Polemonium Peak and descend the obvious
U-Notch.
Nothing to it, right?
Below: Crampons on and now beginning the traverse over to Glacier Notch (this 3rd class route crosses the divide above Mt. Gayley to join the North Couloir of Mt. Sill).
Above: Looking up Glacier Notch. Without crampons and ice ax, this route would be too icy and exposed.
Below: We reached the notch by 7:30am. A strong wind picked up and a
brief conservation was had about turning back. None the less, we kept trudging up the hill to join the North Couloir . The
Swiss Arete (5.7) can been seen behind Russ.
Above: Looking back down on the North Couloir ~ 13,700'.
Below: Top of the North Couloir between Sill and Apex Peak (small sub peak of Sill). The VIEWS!!!!
Although the route is rated class 4, the ice and snow was a complete unknown factor. I roped up and lead out across the Northwest Face of Sill.
Below: We ended up pitching out two pitches of class 4 due to the ice and exposure.
Above: By 10:45, we pulled over the crest of the ridge and hung a left to traverse up to the summit of Sill. What should be a fairly quick run up boulders took its toll on us at 14,000'.
Below: The summit of Mt. Sill at 11:20am - 6 hours and 20 minutes after leaving out camp.
Above: Of all my summits shots - This is my favorite!
Below: Exhausted with altitude sickness etc, we both easily threw in the town to not traverse over to Polemonium. It's easy to sit here and second guess my decision but the sheer scale of the rock over there from Sill was vast. We both knew our exhaustion plus the unknown of descent off Polemonium and into the U-Notch was not a safe idea.We grabbed out packs back the the crest notch descended back to the NW face. Seen below was the first of two rappels down icy 4th class.
Above: It took us over and hour and a half to descend the North Couloir back to Glacier Notch. I then proceeded to log in a 1,000' butt glasade down the glacier.
Below: In a state of exhaustion, I wondered through the glacier back to "camp boulder."
Day Three Stats:
Tent-to-Tent: 10 hours
Route: North Couloir of Mt. Sill - Class 4
Elevation gain: 2,000'
Thursday May 24th 2012:
It was decided that due to the sheer scale of what we were dealing with to scrap our plans of ascending the Underhill Couloir plan followed by the traverse. We instead would go up the U-notch and summit the North Palisade and at least tick off both the official California 14ers here.
Once again, 5:00am launch from our Boulder Camp and once again tired and out of breath.
Above: One the best mornings of my life. The approach across the glacier to to the U-Notch is what it's all about man!
Above: It took 2:45 to arrive at the base of the U-Notch. Pictured above is the
Bergschrund. This
crevasse is a serious hazard in climbing this route. Generally speaking, short of strong ice climbing skills - one will need to climb this route spring/early summer to insure the crevasse is closed or at least have good bridges (
hence the May trip to the Palisades).
Below: I take the lead across the snow bridge. Having zero experience in this department made me pretty nervous, but it felt like it was built like a truck.... what do I know?
Above: The U-Notch is a 700' 42 degree steep snow/ice alpine Couloir between the summits of North Palisade and Polemonium. Here is Secor's description of it in Peaks, Passes, and Trails, "The U Notch Couloir with Chimney Variation is the classic route." I had yet to be a snow chute this steep before. Although it was intimidating, I look back and realize I only felt that way because it was all new to me. In retrospect, we roped up for a lot of the climb to together which was completely unnecessary. Generally speaking, after crossing the bergschrund until below the last 300' of alpine ice, the route is perfect snow climbing conditions for solo work.
Below: The last couple of hundred feet of the couloir had switched from consolidated snow to hard alpine ice. Although I had purposely brought a 2nd ice ax plus a few ice screws for this exact moment - my nerves got to me and I bailed for more comfortable 4th class rock.
Above: It took 5 hours to climb the U-Notch alone!. Both of us were totally exhausted from the previous day as well. To add to that, we have 200' of 5.6 technical climbing with rock shoes to do (remember - it's well below freezing) to attain the ridge proper. From there, an unknown traverse to the summit and back. Lastly, our nerves had caught up to us, with both of us were feeling apprehensive about our descent back in to the icy depths of the U-Notch. Pictured about the the 2 pitch (5.6) "Chimney Variation" to the ridge proper.
- What about the Clyde Variation - Class 4? Good question, although I read and researched this route which starts a couple of hundred feet below and on the western side of the U-Notch (Southwest Chute), I opted to not do this since my total unfamiliarity with the complexities of the western aspect of the Northern Palisade.
Below: Bailing from the route - 1:30pm.
Above: The descent of the U-Notch was long and drawn out. We were both very fatigued and had fried nerves. We rapped pretty much the entire gully (again - mostly overkill). Using our one 60 meter rope we accomplished perhaps 5 or 6 thirty meter rappels. We found countless rappel webbings from previous parties but they where scattered at all heights on the wall (climbers right), obviously from years of different snow levels in the chute. I would try to sling rock horns or even large boulders, but had to keep in mind the limited about of webbing remaining. Some of the largest boulders would still move under body weight. The descent of the U-Notch was epic to say the least. It took us almost 3 hours to come down the route.
Below: 4:30pm, finally back on the glacier. Pictured above is Russ on the final rappel across the bergschrund.
I don't recall how long it took us to get back to Boulder Camp, but we just made a direct line across the glacier. Both of us passed out without eating dinner. It was only then did I realize the magnitude of this entire area.
That night a small front blew through. Our poor tent which was so precariously preached atop the boulder did not withstand the wind and eventually partially collapsed on us during the night. No one cared.
Day Four Stats:
- Tent-to-tent: ~13 hours
- Route: Successful climb of the U-Notch (Class 4 Moderate Snow Climb), no summit of the North Palisade.
- Gain: 1,500'
Friday May 25th 2012:
We were done - finished - Go home. I awoke with a partially collapsed tent in my face and feeling utterly sick. After 4 days of going hard at altitude my body had enough. I could barely summon the strength to eat and pack my bag.
Above: The front had blew in.
Below: Boulder camp, barely.
Above: 2 and half hours after leaving our home on that boulder we arrived back at Sam Mack meadow - something that isn't rock, snow, or ice.
Below: It took close to 5 hours to get back to the trail head. Both of us were beat and still the rattlers came to run us off.
Day Five Stats:
- 9 miles hiked downhill
- Time: 5 hours
- Loss: 4,300'
Afterthoughts:
I could see now that finishing the California 14ers would be a much harder undertaking that I had imagined . This would involve so much more skill and technique to successfully pull this off. As soon as I got home from this 5 day trip, I began to think about how best to climb this mountain. Thus the beginning of the saga....
