Route Climbed: North Couloir Date Climbed: September 14, 2003
Climbed with Nathan as a get acquainted climb in anticipation of our trip to Aconcagua in January 2004. Set camp just below the Palisade glacier. Rte up the North couloir was straight forward followed by some short pitches of class 4 rock. Blue bird day on top.
Route Climbed: Swiss arete and north couloir Date Climbed: Late 1980's
Climbed North couloir solo in May. Good hard snow all the way from 3rd lake to top of couloir (took short cut straight up from 3rd along Temple crag and Gayley to bottom of Glacier notch and camped ). Tricky, snowy traverse to ridge but very fun in retrospect. Climbed the Swiss arete in summer- wonderful climb and fantastic views. Can't wait to take my son on that one.
I climbed Mount Sill in June of 2000, via V-notch along with guide Brendon Cusick of AAI. Unfortunately at that time I did not own my digital camera and have no pictures. I returned in 2004 to see the west side of North Pal., Sill and the entire Palisade crest by backcountry travel from Bishop Pass over Napsack Pass, the Barrett Lake region, Potluck Pass, and later returned via the PCT north, then over the Dusy Basin trail again.
Route Climbed: North Couloir Date Climbed: July 3, 2004
Dayhike out of the Big Pine TH. I found the route-finding in the North Couloir much trickier than expected--so much for Bob's claim that I'd find it to be the easiest 4th class in the Sierra! It took considerable searching to find the easy way up, and I had a heck of a time trying to remember my exit point on the way back. The final portion up to the ridge looks like cliffs from above! I was starting to think I'd have to hang about and try to convince some other climber to let me use his rope and rappel... fortunately a key cairn and some more diligent route inspection saved me from embarrassment.
No views on Sill as the summit was socked in with clouds. A rather impressive lightning storm developed as I was heading up Gayley, so I bailed out down the drainage to Willow Lake without tagging that one. That was a mistake--I didn't find the use trail, and ended up doing way more talus hopping, bush whacking, and cursing than I'd have preferred.
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: July, 1981
Climbed this with Allan Bard, John Fischer, and a couple other folks from the Palisade School of Mountaineering as a diversion from the backbreaking labor of digging out our high camp equipment cache above the Palisade Glacier. We even had some politically incorrect fun trundling rocks down the east face. This route as definitely a classic. And the peak is awesome by any route. Highly recommended.
Route Climbed: North Couloir Date Climbed: 8/23/2004
Great climb. As of 8/23/2004, you can avoid all the snow in the "L" shape snow field by climbing around it on the left side. This involves easy class 3 scrambling and bypasses a lot of the scree in the gully.
I believe this route follows the approach to the Swiss Arete.
Also, you can avoid virtually all the snow and ice in the Palisade Glacier by sneaking around the left side.
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: July 25, 2004
ANOTHER SIERRAS EPIC ACCOMPLISHED!
By: Robert Vallera, Jochen Klinke and Jim Mason
Happy Birthday Jochen! (41)
Date: July 25-26, 2004
Route: Swiss Arete, III (5.7)
Equipment: 50 meter double rope, generous rack of TCUs and Cams, hexes #4-10, 1 set nuts, 1 pink tri-cam.
Summited at 8:00 PM after about 8 pitches. Fun climb, nice exposure, a classic, and for us - in more ways than one - an epic! Got back to our camp at the foot of the Palisade Glacier about 9:30 AM the morning of July 26th. (See trip report.)
Route Climbed: Southwest Slopes Date Climbed: Late may, 2004
As part of a ski tour around the Palisades.
Originally planned to skin as far as possible toward the saddle of Sill-Polemonium, but consensus veered us onto the more interesting class 3 talus and blocks SW of the summit. Needed to angle left more than we did lower down on the climb--we got on a rib that bought us to a false summit and forced us to rap down into a notch and continue traversing left. Either way, lots of fun and a great day for talus-hopping in telemark "rock slippers".
Route Climbed: southwest chute Date Climbed: august 30, 2003
did a solo overnighter. camped in the palisade basin just below the
t-bolt pass. at the base of the climb, took the second chute (that culminates in a notch prominent even from the base). stayed along the ridge defining the left (on way up) of this chute. good solid rock for most part (class 2-3). climbing up the notch at the top (towards the summit) was a bit harder than the stuff before that, but not a lot more (and virtually no exposure).
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: 08/05/00 and 08/09/99
I hiked up from Elsinore Lake with some friends. We ascended up the couloir, then a scramble to the summit. I got tired of waiting for my friends at the summit, so I went did Polemonium, North Palisade, and Starlight. I new I would run out of sunlight if I went did Thunderbolt, so I headed back to Elsinore Lake.
In 1999, solo from Sam Mack up the North Couloir Route, then traverse to Polemonium.
Route Climbed: North Coulior Date Climbed: July 2003
Ooooh, the North Coulior! Visions from climbing in Norway and the North Cascades came to mind of rime covered rock, and blowing spindrift.
But in the Sierra, on a summer day, there is no such thing, just some nice patches of hard snow between sections of pretty solid rock. Eyed the Swiss Arete during the approach. Mmmm, looks tasty, guess I'll be coming back.
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: 23 August, 2003
FINALLY did this route (after years of wanting to)!!! Great climb, with perfect rock, stimulating exposure, & fun & sustained climbing- to the top of a 14er! Mark was a great partner, too.
Due to starting late (got on the route @ 12.02), we also ended late (I topped out @ 19.11), but that allowed us to enjoy magnificent sunset views of the Palisades- how many people getta see that??!!
Tricky class 4 routefinding in the dark (we also only had 1 headlamp!), with sections of verglas & snow, made going back down quite 'interesting!' After getting to the notch between Sill & its subpeak, I thought it was easy from there- wrong! Class 2-3 N couloir was utter crap (sometimes it felt like half the gully was sliding down with each step!). At least we got to rap' past the bottom of the snowfield, w/o having to don crampons.
Unfortunately, we then couldn't find the notch leading to the variation we took to gain the plateau, & shivered & (somehow) slept until sunrise, when we found the 'easy' way back down to the glacier. Another Sierra epic!
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: August 23rd
Great climb. Took longer than expected, though, so we had to find our way down in the dark and ended up sleeping at the Glacier Notch until dawn.
We never encountered what seemed to be the 'reach around' move, but we did encouter a 5.8 (maybe 5.9?) crack on the left side of the ridge which was the crux of the climb for us.
Route Climbed: North Couloir Date Climbed: 21 July 2003
A fun snow/ice climb up the Glacier Notch, L-shaped glacier, then some loose class 4 with some exposure to the top. Amazing views from the top, then traversed to Polemonium to scope it out for a future climb. Rapped off the ridge to avoid downclimbing the loose stuff to the saddle between Apex and Sill. Base camped in a large cave in the morraine on the way down to Mack Meadows. Nice.
soslaw - Apr 18, 2005 2:14 pm
Route Climbed: North Couloir Date Climbed: September 14, 2003Climbed with Nathan as a get acquainted climb in anticipation of our trip to Aconcagua in January 2004. Set camp just below the Palisade glacier. Rte up the North couloir was straight forward followed by some short pitches of class 4 rock. Blue bird day on top.
Brian Frederick - Mar 10, 2005 11:55 pm
Route Climbed: Swiss arete and north couloir Date Climbed: Late 1980'sClimbed North couloir solo in May. Good hard snow all the way from 3rd lake to top of couloir (took short cut straight up from 3rd along Temple crag and Gayley to bottom of Glacier notch and camped ). Tricky, snowy traverse to ridge but very fun in retrospect. Climbed the Swiss arete in summer- wonderful climb and fantastic views. Can't wait to take my son on that one.
plume - Feb 12, 2005 5:26 pm
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: June 1998Led by the late great Kim Richards. Perfect weather, perfect climb, perfect trip.
sierratrekkin - Dec 19, 2004 7:10 pm
Route Climbed: V-Notch Date Climbed: June, 2000I climbed Mount Sill in June of 2000, via V-notch along with guide Brendon Cusick of AAI. Unfortunately at that time I did not own my digital camera and have no pictures. I returned in 2004 to see the west side of North Pal., Sill and the entire Palisade crest by backcountry travel from Bishop Pass over Napsack Pass, the Barrett Lake region, Potluck Pass, and later returned via the PCT north, then over the Dusy Basin trail again.
Matthew Holliman - Nov 16, 2004 12:10 am
Route Climbed: North Couloir Date Climbed: July 3, 2004Dayhike out of the Big Pine TH. I found the route-finding in the North Couloir much trickier than expected--so much for Bob's claim that I'd find it to be the easiest 4th class in the Sierra! It took considerable searching to find the easy way up, and I had a heck of a time trying to remember my exit point on the way back. The final portion up to the ridge looks like cliffs from above! I was starting to think I'd have to hang about and try to convince some other climber to let me use his rope and rappel... fortunately a key cairn and some more diligent route inspection saved me from embarrassment.
No views on Sill as the summit was socked in with clouds. A rather impressive lightning storm developed as I was heading up Gayley, so I bailed out down the drainage to Willow Lake without tagging that one. That was a mistake--I didn't find the use trail, and ended up doing way more talus hopping, bush whacking, and cursing than I'd have preferred.
bechtt - Nov 10, 2004 12:34 pm
Route Climbed: Southwest chutes via Scimitar Pass Date Climbed: 25 Sep 04Perfect day -- longer slog than expected. Outstanding view from the top.
Steve Larson - Nov 5, 2004 9:27 pm
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: July, 1981Climbed this with Allan Bard, John Fischer, and a couple other folks from the Palisade School of Mountaineering as a diversion from the backbreaking labor of digging out our high camp equipment cache above the Palisade Glacier. We even had some politically incorrect fun trundling rocks down the east face. This route as definitely a classic. And the peak is awesome by any route. Highly recommended.
ripper333 - Oct 24, 2004 5:07 pm
Route Climbed: traverse from thunderbolt Date Climbed: sept 2004the last peak of one long day
august 2005... swiss arete with piotrek met on aconcagua... brought gear
didnt use....
BranchWhitney - Aug 24, 2004 11:04 am
Route Climbed: North Couloir Date Climbed: 8/23/2004Great climb. As of 8/23/2004, you can avoid all the snow in the "L" shape snow field by climbing around it on the left side. This involves easy class 3 scrambling and bypasses a lot of the scree in the gully.
I believe this route follows the approach to the Swiss Arete.
Also, you can avoid virtually all the snow and ice in the Palisade Glacier by sneaking around the left side.
jimmasonllc - Aug 5, 2004 5:02 pm
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: July 25, 2004ANOTHER SIERRAS EPIC ACCOMPLISHED!
By: Robert Vallera, Jochen Klinke and Jim Mason
Happy Birthday Jochen! (41)
Date: July 25-26, 2004
Route: Swiss Arete, III (5.7)
Equipment: 50 meter double rope, generous rack of TCUs and Cams, hexes #4-10, 1 set nuts, 1 pink tri-cam.
Summited at 8:00 PM after about 8 pitches. Fun climb, nice exposure, a classic, and for us - in more ways than one - an epic! Got back to our camp at the foot of the Palisade Glacier about 9:30 AM the morning of July 26th. (See trip report.)
Fred Bagni - Jul 10, 2004 7:03 pm
Route Climbed: North Couloir Date Climbed: June 21, 2002Best view. I love the palisades.
Scott Pierce - Jun 19, 2004 3:50 pm
Route Climbed: Southwest Slopes Date Climbed: Late may, 2004As part of a ski tour around the Palisades.
Originally planned to skin as far as possible toward the saddle of Sill-Polemonium, but consensus veered us onto the more interesting class 3 talus and blocks SW of the summit. Needed to angle left more than we did lower down on the climb--we got on a rib that bought us to a false summit and forced us to rap down into a notch and continue traversing left. Either way, lots of fun and a great day for talus-hopping in telemark "rock slippers".
mtnfoto - Jan 26, 2004 11:01 am
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: May 1977Climbed this with Sheldon Moomaw back in the day.
dvsanbt - Oct 12, 2003 5:50 pm
Route Climbed: southwest chute Date Climbed: august 30, 2003did a solo overnighter. camped in the palisade basin just below the
t-bolt pass. at the base of the climb, took the second chute (that culminates in a notch prominent even from the base). stayed along the ridge defining the left (on way up) of this chute. good solid rock for most part (class 2-3). climbing up the notch at the top (towards the summit) was a bit harder than the stuff before that, but not a lot more (and virtually no exposure).
looong approach from the south lake.
Guilty - Oct 7, 2003 9:49 pm
Route Climbed: East Couloir Date Climbed: 08/05/00 and 08/09/99I hiked up from Elsinore Lake with some friends. We ascended up the couloir, then a scramble to the summit. I got tired of waiting for my friends at the summit, so I went did Polemonium, North Palisade, and Starlight. I new I would run out of sunlight if I went did Thunderbolt, so I headed back to Elsinore Lake.
In 1999, solo from Sam Mack up the North Couloir Route, then traverse to Polemonium.
darinchadwick - Aug 30, 2003 4:20 am
Route Climbed: North Coulior Date Climbed: July 2003Ooooh, the North Coulior! Visions from climbing in Norway and the North Cascades came to mind of rime covered rock, and blowing spindrift.
But in the Sierra, on a summer day, there is no such thing, just some nice patches of hard snow between sections of pretty solid rock. Eyed the Swiss Arete during the approach. Mmmm, looks tasty, guess I'll be coming back.
Diggler - Aug 28, 2003 3:52 pm
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: 23 August, 2003FINALLY did this route (after years of wanting to)!!! Great climb, with perfect rock, stimulating exposure, & fun & sustained climbing- to the top of a 14er! Mark was a great partner, too.
Due to starting late (got on the route @ 12.02), we also ended late (I topped out @ 19.11), but that allowed us to enjoy magnificent sunset views of the Palisades- how many people getta see that??!!
Tricky class 4 routefinding in the dark (we also only had 1 headlamp!), with sections of verglas & snow, made going back down quite 'interesting!' After getting to the notch between Sill & its subpeak, I thought it was easy from there- wrong! Class 2-3 N couloir was utter crap (sometimes it felt like half the gully was sliding down with each step!). At least we got to rap' past the bottom of the snowfield, w/o having to don crampons.
Unfortunately, we then couldn't find the notch leading to the variation we took to gain the plateau, & shivered & (somehow) slept until sunrise, when we found the 'easy' way back down to the glacier. Another Sierra epic!
PellucidWombat - Aug 25, 2003 7:26 pm
Route Climbed: Swiss Arete Date Climbed: August 23rdGreat climb. Took longer than expected, though, so we had to find our way down in the dark and ended up sleeping at the Glacier Notch until dawn.
We never encountered what seemed to be the 'reach around' move, but we did encouter a 5.8 (maybe 5.9?) crack on the left side of the ridge which was the crux of the climb for us.
ocelot - Aug 11, 2003 1:09 pm
Route Climbed: North Couloir Date Climbed: 21 July 2003A fun snow/ice climb up the Glacier Notch, L-shaped glacier, then some loose class 4 with some exposure to the top. Amazing views from the top, then traversed to Polemonium to scope it out for a future climb. Rapped off the ridge to avoid downclimbing the loose stuff to the saddle between Apex and Sill. Base camped in a large cave in the morraine on the way down to Mack Meadows. Nice.
Paul Spraycar - Jul 26, 2003 4:07 pm
Route Climbed: Southwest Slope Date Climbed: July 29, 2001Fun climb from Lower Palisade Lake via Cirque Pass.