Has anyone been up this overlooked summit between Norman Clyde Peak and Palisades Crest? Specifically from the Clyde Glacier side in August? The only route info I can find is the 700ft snow/ice couloir that Secor mentions without a rating. In August I expect that to be pretty much ice and am wondering if the rock faces to the left or right can be climbed at class 4 to low 5. Alternatively, does anyone know the difficulty of traversing to it from Norman Clyde Peak? From various accounts I gather it is in the range of 5.2 to 5.6 - does this match your experience? Thanks in advance...

Google maps & earth have good views of the traverse .

Hi, Bob! I dayhiked Norman Clyde and Williams on June 27, 1993. I went up the north side of Clyde from Finger Lake and then traversed over to Williams. I don’t recall how I descended Williams, but I probably traversed back towards Clyde. I rated the traverse class 4, but a lot of rating inflation has occurred since 1993. I recall some rotten rock.

I climbed that couloir and then followed class 4 rock over to Clyde on January 1, 2000. The couloir was 38° to 45° with a bergschrund that wasn’t trivial. I don’t recall how appealing the rock in the couloir looked, but I would expect some of it to be pretty loose.

We all know that global warming is just a hoax perpetuated by the Chinese, but it seems to me that all the classic snow and ice climbs in the Sierra are melting out. The right Mendenhall Couloir used to be a great two-tools ice climb, but the last time I was there, I did it in rock shoes. The couloir on Clyde might be half ice and half wet/rotten rock this August.

I sure wouldn't want to be in that couloir without a helmet and someone else's crampons and tools. You got a decent shot from Firebird this past summer, and it looks like a bowling alley.

Better than Mendel Right, though -- I wonder who the last person was to ever climb it?

EDIT: found a photo from below Scimitar Pass, 9/9/2015, and it was ugly then, too:

Thanks for the info on the traverse, Bob, that sounds encouraging.
Sean - I have no desire to climb that ice couloir in August, which is why I was looking for alternatives. I think your picture is showing a different couloir, one that rises to the crest on the west side of Mt. Williams.

You're right, Bob b. -- cropping that image less, I realize that is the couloir between Williams and the tail end of Palisade Crest. Based on Bob P's comment and what I've read about the full Palisade traverse, it sounds like this will be similar to Waller Minaret a few years back: low 5th, untrustworthy rock.