The North Palisade Saga Part III

And so another May arrived in the Sierras which meant it's time to go after the North Palisade (14,249'). The those of you tuning in, Russ and I have been summiting all of California's 14er peaks. The "North Pal" is the classic peak of the High Sierra. It is striking from a distance, and it has routes that will challenge climbers of all abilities and preferences. This one peak has denied us of its summit two years running.
What's up with May you ask? Well, the U-Notch...that's why.

You see the U-Notch is a 700 foot 40 degree snow/ice climb that leads to the notch (center left) in the picture above. From there the "5.6 Chimney" takes you to the ridge where one traverses to the summit. The combination of the U-Notch + Chimney = The quintessential high sierra route. OK with that being said, the bergschrund itself is frequently impassable. Most snow bridges collapse by late June. In dry years they can collapse must sooner. Since we have had many dry years in a row, to make sure the snow bridge was safe we've choose to go in the spring.
Why not go in the winter? - Well, beside for the normal winter hazards (avalanches, etc) the snow in the U-Notch has not been consolidated yet by the thaw/freeze cycles that happens in the spring. Consolidated snow is the key for good and safe climbing conditions. The chute also begins its transformation from consolidated snow to alpine ice starting as early as May so the WINDOW to climb this route is SMALL.

Previous attempts:

1. May 2012 - We made it to the top of the U-Notch. However we summited Mt. Sill (another 14er) the previous day and both our paces were slow that day. We arrived at the top of the notch too late in the day to continue a summit attempt.
2. May 2013 - High winds (30mph) at camp and "Gale Force Winds" along the crest we opted to not attempt the route that day.

The Plan this year:

• Day #1 - Drive the 6 hours, crash out in the Pilot.
• Day #2 - As in the previous year make the hike all the way to high camp (12,500').
• Day #3 - Climb.
• Day #4 - Hike out, drive home.

Wednesday May 21st
The our trip was postpone 48 hours due to a late spring storm moving through the Sierras. The forecast called for clearing weather by Wednesday, partly cloudy Thursday, and clear on Friday (summit day). Winds seems to be OK and the temps for Friday's summit were normal for this time of year. We split from Fresno late afternoon and drove the 6 hours back to Big Pine and up the road to the trail head. Once we reached the southern end of the Owens Valley I could tell the weather wasn't clearing out of the high country like the forecast had predicted. In fact, The Sierra's and White Mountains has many large thunderstorms.
We arrived at the trail head parking around 7:00pm to find fresh snow near by.

After a pleasant night's sleep in the Honda Pilot we awoke and found it now sleeting at the trail head. So yeah, not "Clearing Out". I switched to shell clothing, muscled my heavy pack and began the now familiar North Fork trail.

 

 

Sleet eventually turned to all out snow which slowly accumulated on the ground as the morning went on.

 

We worked our way up the North Fork trail to the Glacier Trail turnoff in just 4 and a half hours. My trail shoes were officially soaked so I switched to mountain boots. In previous years the trail up to Sam Mack Meadow is where we have encountered the first snow and I found big drifts under the fresh power this year. We crested the Sam Mack meadow and meat two guys who had camped there the previous night in full conditions.

 

The fresh powder made the uphill climb slippery at times. As the afternoon progressed the sun started to come out and I felt like perhaps this was the beginning of the clearing weather. Better late than never but when it was all said as done there was about 6" of fresh snow on the ground.

Around 3:30 we made camp on a pretty marginal flat spot. I was hoping like last year to find water but with the fresh snow there was none to be found. In fact the next hour was spent melting snow for water (a very time and fuel consuming task).

Storm clouds could be seen across the Owens Valley moving our direction so we secured camp and moved inside the "3 season tent" and awaited a 4th season storm.

 

All evening and into the night it continued to storm dropping more and more snow. I had a restless night and at the time didn't notice I wasn't drinking enough water for the altitude. I was more focused on the weather and keeping my stuff dry than taking caring of my body.

 

Thursday May 22nd

At 4:30am the alarm went off. It was a cold but a clear morning. Close to a foot of fresh unconsolidated powder was on the ground. We geared up (everything was frozen and was encrusted with snow) and began our trek up to the Palisade glacier.



It was extremely obvious that conditions were terrible not only for climbing but even approaching the U-Notch. Underneath the fresh powder were huge boulders which make for very slow going. As we approached the glacier the full U-Notch route came in to view.

It was clear that the North Pal wasn't going happen for us this time. Fresh snow meant the U-Notch was going to be extremely hard to climb and possibly dangerous with alpine ice underneath it. A quick decision to turn was made and we returned to our tent. I however started to not feel well. I laid back down to nap and around 9am got back up to break camp and hike out. For the first time in a long time I really felt the effects of altitude sickness. It wasn't until I descended below 11,000' that I started to feel slightly better. My appetite came back and I rehydrated bouncing back for the hike downhill. Along the way stellar views of Temple Crag were to be had!

Though bummed, we both knew that it was out of our hands. We couldn't be faulted for not giving it an attempt. We weathered all day snow and an all night storm. When I do stand on the top of the North Pal I'll remember ALL the hard work and effort to that got me there!