Trip Report - North Palisade

The Palisades are located in the Sierra Nevada between Mount Whitney to the south and Yosemite National Park to the north. The east side of these mountains is accessed via the Glacier Lodge Road which comes out of the small town of Big Pine, CA. North Palisade is the tallest of the mountains in this area, but is just one of several 14,000ft peaks in this range. At the base of this mountain sits the Palisade Glacier, the largest glacier in California. I've had several people tell me that this is their favorite area in the Sierras and I understand why, the place is beautiful!

Wednesday (6/20) 

• After work I drove home, spent some time with Emily and Claire, ate some dinner, and packed the car. I left Redlands a little after 7:00pm and headed north on the famous HI-395. 
• The drive to Big Pine was uneventful except for an unfortunate incident where NPR sideswiped me by playing this summer's teeny-bop hit, "Call Me Maybe" which subsequently left me humming the lyrics to that insipid song throughout the rest of my trip. (Good one NPR, you caught me in a moment of weakness, with my guard down, and left me mentally crippled for THREE days!)
• I arrived at the North Fork Big Pine Creek trail head at around midnight. The plan was to meet Josh (my climbing partner for the trip) at this parking lot and set off up the trail the next day. Josh had arrived a couple days earlier to climb the Sun Ribbon Arête on Temple Crag with another guy from Texas. When I didn't see them there I figured that they were somewhere up the trail. I pulled my bag out of the trunk and slept in the car, opting for a night of discomfort rather than going through the trouble of setting up the tent. 

Thursday (6/21)

• The night was warmer than I expected, and I slept fairly well. 
• In the morning I got up, and still not seeing Josh, decided to pack everything I would need for the trip as if I was going solo (including all the climbing gear, fuel, tent, etc.). I started up the trail at around 8:00am.

• The weather was beautiful and I made good time going up the North Fork Big Pine Creek trail. I was surprised at the number of people I ran into on the trail considering it was a Thursday. I guess that just speaks to the popularity of the whole area.

• I ran into Josh and his climbing partner coming down the trail at around 11:30am. They had spent the night on top of Temple Crag; waiting for morning to find the descent route. They didn't have many nice things to say about the climb; I guess they ran into poor rock quality and had difficult route finding. We stopped for a few minutes and Josh explained that he needed to run back to the car to grab his boots and an ice axe. He had stashed his tent and some other gear at Third Lake, so I was able to send some of my extra stuff back to the car with him.
• While Josh ran back to the car, I found a comfortable place next to the trail to snack and nap while waiting for him to return. I enjoyed a couple leisurely hours beside the river rotating between sleeping on the log in the sun and sleeping on a cool rock in the shade. It made for one of the nicest approach days ever!

• When Josh came back we continued up the trail to Third Lake. At the lake Josh cooked up a hot lunch and we took a few minutes to relax and purify some water.

• We spent the rest of the afternoon making our way up to Sam Mack Meadow and then on up to the camp at Glacier Lake.

• We arrived at Glacier Lake in the early evening, which gave us enough time/light to find a beautiful little bivy spot that had been built up between two large boulders. Josh found that there wasn't quite enough room inside to set up the tent, but we discovered that the boulders and rock wall provided more than enough protection from the wind, and we decided to just sleep under the stars. 

The view of the Palisades from our camp. Mt. Sill is on the left and North Palisade is the pointy one on the right.

Our awesome bivy spot!

• I cooked up my signature mountain frito pie (Indian madras lentils with corn chips and cheese), and we had a great dinner before turning in.

Friday (6/22)

• We woke up to strong winds tearing around camp and through our shelter. Fortunately, we stayed warm inside our sleeping bags, but we were reluctant to get up until the winds died down. After an hour or so things calmed down and we got up, organized our gear, and had some breakfast.

• A little before 9:00am we took off across the moraine towards the glacier and the U-notch. The late start resulted in some mixed conditions on the glacier, and we ran into everything from knee-high post holing to rock-hard ice.

• At the base of the U-notch, we found three solid looking ribs on the right side that bridged the bergshrund. We moved up towards the first rib and roped up at the base. We skipped past the first rib and crossed over the gap on the second one.

• The snow conditions at the base of the U-notch were pretty miserable; the surface was the consistency of a melting snow cone, and I found my self sinking in past my calf with every kick step. Fortunately, as we moved upward the snow got progressively harder and the climbing became easier. 
• After passing a tongue of loose rock that split the couloir, the snow turned to ice and the angle steepened. I really enjoyed this section; with a full pitch of great ice climbing, it was one of the more memorable parts of the trip! 

• At the top of the U-notch we stashed our axes and crampons and then moved over to the base of the chimney. 

The base of the chimney.

• Josh took the first lead on the chimney, and I took the second. This part was also a lot of fun. We found solid rock and easy climbing with lots of good holds and great stemming moves. 
• At the top we stashed the rope and rack and traversed across a short slab to a pinnacle where we dropped down to a dish full of loose choss and talus. Reluctant to lose any elevation, we tried to stay high on the side of the ridge and avoided doing all the way down into the base of the dish. The winds had picked up again, but the goal was in sight and we anxiously scrambled over to the base of the summit blocks. We opted for a direct route to the top and found ourselves making a few bouldery moves to gain the peak.

• Sitting on the summit of North Palisade, we were exposed to the full strength of the wind, so we quickly snapped a couple pictures and then started making our way back down.

• We descended the route by retracing our path along the ridge and back to the stashed rope and rack. We rapped down the chimney, collected our ice gear from the top of the notch, and then started walking down a chute of loose rocks on the side of the couloir. We continued down until we reached a good rap station and then rapped. Our short, 50m, rope wasn't quite long enough to make it to the next rap station so we had to down climb a bit to start the next rappel. We repeated the rapping/down climbing process until we reached the bergshrund at the base of the couloir. By this time it was late afternoon and we quickly set off along the glacier back to camp.

Descending the talus slope.

Rapping down the couloir while skirting the rock and ice.

• It was evening by the time we reached our bivy spot. Josh cooked up some dinner and a fantastic apple cobbler! We bedded down, totally satisfied with a successful day.

Saturday (6/23)

• The original plan was to spend Saturday climbing the Swiss Arete on Mt. Sill, but having completed my main objective (North Palisade) and missing my little family back in Redlands, I decided to call the trip early. Josh, already having spent several days in the area, agreed and we packed up camp instead of heading off back over the moraine and glacier. 

• We had an enjoyable hike back to the car, taking our time to talk with groups coming up the trail, and relaxing along the way as we took breaks to refill out water. 

• Josh and I arrived back at the cars at 12:00pm. To celebrate my birthday, Josh offered to get me lunch, so we drove into Bishop where we had some fantastic Mexican food and hung out at the local gear shop, Wilsons.
• After lunch, I started the drive back to Redlands for an uneventful (and "Call Me Maybe" free) road home. I arrived back in Redlands shortly before 7:00pm and was able to surprise Emily and Claire who were attending a friend's party!