Final peak on a traverse from Thunderbolt with Glenn and Curt. In contrast to Bob's experience, we found the section between Starlight and North Pal to be a fair bit easier than the section between Thunderbolt and Starlight--but carrying a rope, we probably made different choices than he did. There was one rappel along the way that we wouldn't have had a prayer of downclimbing.
Couldn't make heads or tails of Secor's route descriptions on the summit, and ended up rapping off the summit and following a mystery chute down. Found ducks, footprints, and a convenient ledge system to take us down into the main SW Chute. I guess we stumbled upon the LeConte route...
Route Climbed: West Chute + Chimney Var. Date Climbed: October 1, 2005
An excellant peak, I wish I could've enjoyed the summit a bit more but the reality of having to hike back to T-bolt pass in the dark made me cut it to 5 minutes. Still no book in the register, just a dull pencil and a few bits of paper. For more details see Mark's (Pellucid Wombat) impending trip report.
Route Climbed: U-Notch + Chimney Variation Date Climbed: August 9, 1987
An exciting climb, I found the chimney difficult due to the altitude. We made the mistake of bringing only one nine mm rope. The snow conditions in the U-Notch were perfect in early morning. By afternoon we encountered slush over hard ice, and rockfall. It took us forever to rappel the couloir with only one 165 foot rope.
Still, it was a great day. I'll never forget the view from the top!
Route Climbed: Northwest ridge Date Climbed: September 4th 2005
Climbed up from the notch separating Starlight and North Palisade. Part of a day hike from South Lake where we tagged Thunderbolt, Starlight and finished here. Climbed with my little bro Curt and Matthew Holliman.
Route Climbed: U Notch/Chimney Date Climbed: June 25, 2005
Fun snow climb. Snow is getting harder. Tagged the summit and the got pounded by a fierce snow storm all the way back down to camp by the terminal moraine.
Route Climbed: U-notch/ chimney Date Climbed: July, Mid 80s
Very fun climb, a challenge to surmount the bergschrund, then hard neve to the notch. The chimney pitches were fairly easy with a minimal rack. One of my favorite summits. Stayed too long and had some rockfall in the couloir coming down.
Did this with Sara Steck on a day off from our duties with the Palisade School of Mountaineering. Swinging that ole' Chouinard wooden piolet into the ice, and a wierd little Salewa ice hammer. A great route. Ice went all the way to the notch then, haven't seen it several years, but form pictures it looks like rock the last few yards. Pity of that's the case, it had a real kick in the pants finish!
Route Climbed: Traverse from Startlight Peak Date Climbed: August 9, 2004
By far the best part of our traverse from Thunderbolt to Polemonium. We stayed on the very edge of the ridge that featured some 5.7-5.8 moves. Free-solo.
Route Climbed: From the U Notch Date Climbed: August 12, 2004
After an awesome night camped at the U Notch, watching the Perseid meteor shower, we headed up. Some nasty weather was moving in quickly so we took in the views and headed off toward Starlight. A terrific summit.
Route Climbed: U-Notch/Chimney Date Climbed: July 10, 2004
Cloudless sky, good snow bridge in about the middle of the 'schrund. From the top of the chimney we dropped off the ridge about 100' and traversed over then up to the summit. This was easier and less exposed than staying right on the ridge.
Route Climbed: Clyde Couloir & Upper N. Face Date Climbed: June 21, 1997
Fabulous day, from a bivvy near terminal moraine of Palisade Gl. I climbed the couloir direct - all the snow & ice I could find (did not move onto the rock as suggested in Secor, & Roper). Couloir was quite straightforward until near its top where there are 3 chockstones, which gave me body-length vertical ice steps - exciting when one is soloing (had 2 ice tools, & used 'em!). Once out of the couloir traversed up & left on steep ground until hitting the top corner of the N. Face snow field, then straight up to the summit (again, steep rock). On the traverse I discovered an old Chouinard oval with 2 pristine Chouinard nuts slung with perlon - sweet find for my alpine museum.
Downclimbed the U-Notch, which had a lot of exposed blue ice for that early in the season.
Matthew Holliman - Oct 5, 2005 3:21 am
Route Climbed: NW Ridge (ascent) / LeConte Route (descent) Date Climbed: Sep 4, 2005Final peak on a traverse from Thunderbolt with Glenn and Curt. In contrast to Bob's experience, we found the section between Starlight and North Pal to be a fair bit easier than the section between Thunderbolt and Starlight--but carrying a rope, we probably made different choices than he did. There was one rappel along the way that we wouldn't have had a prayer of downclimbing.
Couldn't make heads or tails of Secor's route descriptions on the summit, and ended up rapping off the summit and following a mystery chute down. Found ducks, footprints, and a convenient ledge system to take us down into the main SW Chute. I guess we stumbled upon the LeConte route...
Completebum - Oct 3, 2005 11:10 am
Route Climbed: West Chute + Chimney Var. Date Climbed: October 1, 2005An excellant peak, I wish I could've enjoyed the summit a bit more but the reality of having to hike back to T-bolt pass in the dark made me cut it to 5 minutes. Still no book in the register, just a dull pencil and a few bits of paper. For more details see Mark's (Pellucid Wombat) impending trip report.
Kerstin - Sep 17, 2005 12:52 pm
Route Climbed: U-Notch + Chimney Variation Date Climbed: August 9, 1987An exciting climb, I found the chimney difficult due to the altitude. We made the mistake of bringing only one nine mm rope. The snow conditions in the U-Notch were perfect in early morning. By afternoon we encountered slush over hard ice, and rockfall. It took us forever to rappel the couloir with only one 165 foot rope.
Still, it was a great day. I'll never forget the view from the top!
kovarpa - Sep 8, 2005 8:29 pm
Route Climbed: U-Notch + Chimney Date Climbed: August 31, 2005Soloed U-Notch, then climbed the chimney. Added Starlight and Polemonium for a 3 peak day.
BranchWhitney - Sep 7, 2005 12:22 am
Route Climbed: West Chute Date Climbed: 9/5/2004Great climb. One of the best 14ers in the Sierra. The summit puts up a good fight.
GlennG - Sep 5, 2005 11:05 pm
Route Climbed: Northwest ridge Date Climbed: September 4th 2005Climbed up from the notch separating Starlight and North Palisade. Part of a day hike from South Lake where we tagged Thunderbolt, Starlight and finished here. Climbed with my little bro Curt and Matthew Holliman.
Brian Kalet - Aug 8, 2005 6:13 pm
Route Climbed: Clyde Variation Date Climbed: August 7, 2005Was planning on bagging Polemonium next, but got chased off by thunderstorms.
travelin_light - Jun 29, 2005 1:01 pm
Route Climbed: U Notch/Chimney Date Climbed: June 25, 2005Fun snow climb. Snow is getting harder. Tagged the summit and the got pounded by a fierce snow storm all the way back down to camp by the terminal moraine.
Brian Frederick - Mar 30, 2005 11:30 pm
Route Climbed: U-notch/ chimney Date Climbed: July, Mid 80sVery fun climb, a challenge to surmount the bergschrund, then hard neve to the notch. The chimney pitches were fairly easy with a minimal rack. One of my favorite summits. Stayed too long and had some rockfall in the couloir coming down.
RSN473 - Mar 3, 2005 2:02 pm
Route Climbed: U-Notch/Chimney Date Climbed: June 21, 2003Great Climb! Getting across bergshrund was a bit tricky, but our semi-large group (6) was able to get up and back to camp by sunset.
myles - Jan 6, 2005 9:59 am
Route Climbed: U-Notch to Clyde variation Date Climbed: July 1997Windy, cloudy and cold, cold on top.
sierratrekkin - Dec 19, 2004 7:14 pm
Route Climbed: U-Notch Date Climbed: June, 2000I climbed North Palisade in June of 2000, along with guide Brendon Cusick of AAI, via U-Notch. We climbed Mount Sill the next day.
Steve Larson - Nov 15, 2004 2:27 am
Route Climbed: U-Notch Date Climbed: July, 1982Did this with Sara Steck on a day off from our duties with the Palisade School of Mountaineering. Swinging that ole' Chouinard wooden piolet into the ice, and a wierd little Salewa ice hammer. A great route. Ice went all the way to the notch then, haven't seen it several years, but form pictures it looks like rock the last few yards. Pity of that's the case, it had a real kick in the pants finish!
ripper333 - Oct 24, 2004 5:03 pm
Route Climbed: traverse from thunderbolt to sill Date Climbed: sept 2004traverse
Misha - Aug 16, 2004 11:30 am
Route Climbed: Traverse from Startlight Peak Date Climbed: August 9, 2004By far the best part of our traverse from Thunderbolt to Polemonium. We stayed on the very edge of the ridge that featured some 5.7-5.8 moves. Free-solo.
Click for the trip report.
Scott M. - Aug 13, 2004 5:12 pm
Route Climbed: From the U Notch Date Climbed: August 12, 2004After an awesome night camped at the U Notch, watching the Perseid meteor shower, we headed up. Some nasty weather was moving in quickly so we took in the views and headed off toward Starlight. A terrific summit.
dabender - Jul 12, 2004 2:55 am
Route Climbed: U-Notch/Chimney Date Climbed: July 10, 2004Cloudless sky, good snow bridge in about the middle of the 'schrund. From the top of the chimney we dropped off the ridge about 100' and traversed over then up to the summit. This was easier and less exposed than staying right on the ridge.
SoloRed - Jan 27, 2004 2:00 pm
Route Climbed: Clyde Couloir & Upper N. Face Date Climbed: June 21, 1997Fabulous day, from a bivvy near terminal moraine of Palisade Gl. I climbed the couloir direct - all the snow & ice I could find (did not move onto the rock as suggested in Secor, & Roper). Couloir was quite straightforward until near its top where there are 3 chockstones, which gave me body-length vertical ice steps - exciting when one is soloing (had 2 ice tools, & used 'em!). Once out of the couloir traversed up & left on steep ground until hitting the top corner of the N. Face snow field, then straight up to the summit (again, steep rock). On the traverse I discovered an old Chouinard oval with 2 pristine Chouinard nuts slung with perlon - sweet find for my alpine museum.
Downclimbed the U-Notch, which had a lot of exposed blue ice for that early in the season.
mtnfoto - Jan 22, 2004 5:54 pm
Route Climbed: U Notch/Chimney Date Climbed: May 1976Perfect snow climb, sunny day!
Guilty - Oct 7, 2003 10:57 pm
Route Climbed: From U-Notch Date Climbed: 10/03/99Solo from Sam Mack Meadow up the U-Notch. On the descent, I went did Polemonium.