Has anyone been up on the Palisade Ridge in the last couple of weeks? We're going to attempt the Thunderbolt to Sill traverse next week and are curious what to expect as far as snow on the route. We climbed Thunderbolt (N Couloir) on May 1 and there seemed to be significant snow on the section between the top of the Underhill couloir and Starlight. Any beta would be appreciated!

We've been hit with two major storms in the past two weeks. While last weekend's was more wind-driven and lighter snow, this past weekend was definitely more moisture-laden. I would expect plenty of snow and ice filling most holds and cracks up there right now.

Best of luck and climb safe!

-Laura

This past weekends Cut Off Low brought more wet snow to the already heavy snow pack that will indeed be found at the higher elevations throughout the Eastern Sierra. We experienced consistent snow as well as 30-60 MPH winds at Upper Boy Scout Lake BC.

UBSL BC on the 4th of June:


Yesterday morning at Upper Boy Scout Lake:


Starting yesterday mornings descent from UBSL back to the Portal. Notice how Thor Falls (in between the 3rd and 4th individual) are still completely frozen and in full on Winter Conditions. Very atypical for June:



I highly recommend that you as well as anyone else venturing into the Eastern Sierra High Country, be "Armed for Bear", thorughout the rest of this month. It is still pretty much winter/early spring high in them hills.

Here is the Mt. Williamson Webcam that will give you a great peek at real time conditions along that region:

I was just up on Temple Crag on Saturday 6/4/11. There's quite a bit of snow up in the high country still. We got snowed on all day, however there was little to no snow accumulation. There was not much snow on the route(VBA) itself. Here is a link to some pictures from our trip, which may or may not be helpful to you:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 030431f83c

-Kellen

Thanks so much!

The Chief wrote:This past weekends Cut Off Low brought more wet snow to the already heavy snow pack that will indeed be found at the higher elevations throughout the Eastern Sierra. We experienced consistent snow as well as 30-60 MPH winds at Upper Boy Scout Lake BC.

UBSL BC on the 4th of June:


Yesterday morning at Upper Boy Scout Lake:


Starting yesterday mornings descent from UBSL back to the Portal. Notice how Thor Falls (in between the 3rd and 4th individual) are still completely frozen and in full on Winter Conditions. Very atypical for June:



I highly recommend that you as well as anyone else venturing into the Eastern Sierra High Country, be "Armed for Bear", thorughout the rest of this month. It is still pretty much winter/early spring high in them hills.

Here is the Mt. Williamson Webcam that will give you a great peek at real time conditions along that region:

NICE! Those falls were totally in 3 weeks ago, too bad we were going in for the Mtnr's Route...no tools. And SUPER cool that I stayed home this past weekend and skied the local mtns instead of hitting Whitney area again. Thanks Rick!

kellendv wrote:I was just up on Temple Crag on Saturday 6/4/11. There's quite a bit of snow up in the high country still. We got snowed on all day, however there was little to no snow accumulation. There was not much snow on the route(VBA) itself. Here is a link to some pictures from our trip, which may or may not be helpful to you:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 030431f83c

-Kellen

thanx fro the info...may I assume that the trail in to the lakes was passable..obviously?
where did you camp? clear ground or in the snow?
we paln on going 4 JUL
tahnx!

ldysrvyr wrote:thanx fro the info...may I assume that the trail in to the lakes was passable..obviously?
where did you camp? clear ground or in the snow?
we paln on going 4 JUL
tahnx!

The trail to the lakes is easily passable. There is significantly more snow above first lake. We camped above third lake, directly beneath Temple Crag. You can see our site in the linked photos. We camped on the snow intentionally, but there are sites on the ground, especially down toward the lakes.

-Kellen

thanx soo much! awesome pics....copntact pass looks like ice ax & crampon territory )

Does anyone know what the typical conditions of the U of V-Notch are in July? From most of the pictures I have seen it looks mostly like a steep snow climb (U-notch), but I would like to hear from someone first hand.

We went up last weekend, and in a group of 3, made it from TB to North Pal. http://punkincrampons.blogspot.com/ has a trip report.

PT

Bump

Looking to do the traverse next weekend.

A couple shots from 7/1 if they might help: