North Palisade - Aerial view (Including Subsidiary Peaks)                           timberlinetrails.net
This Aerial Photo of North Palisade and Subsidiary Peaks - shows the important features of the
Palisade Massif. Most climbers set up high camps on the Palisade Glacier and use the U Notch Couloir for gaining
access to the class 5 chimney that begins at the top of the couloir. Once the 200 ft chimney is completed, the climber
must then traverse the ridge to gain the summit of North Palisade.

Polemonium Peak can also be climbed using this route. The
U Notch Couloir is a 45 degree snow and ice climb in early
season and a technical ice climb in the fall season. The V Notch is a more advanced approach and climbers must
tackle the 50 degree ice to gain the top of this couloir.

Palisade Glacier - Largest Glacier in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The
Polemonium Glacier is the highest glacier in the Sierra Nevada Range.

Thunderbolt Peak and Starlight Peak can also be climbed from this side of the crest, but they are more easily climbed
from the
Palisade Basin Approach. The bergschrund can be a problem in latter season when the gap tends to widen
quite a bit, and a vertical wall of ice comes into play. Therefore, it is best climbed in early season when a snow bridge is
in place. This will afford easy access to the couloir.

LINKS to Palisade Crest Peaks
North Palisade  - (14,242) First climbed on July 25, 1903 by James Hutchinson, Joseph LeConte, J. K. Moffitt

Starlight Peak -  (14,200 Ft) First climbed by Norman Clyde. Arguably the finest summit perch in all the Sierra
Nevada's. Summit Block Rated 5.4

Thunderbolt Peak -  (14,003 Ft) Last California Fourteener to be climbed. Summit Block Rated 5.8

Polemonium Peak -  (14,200 Ft) Rated class 5 from all directions. Named after a small blue flower that grows            
throughout the Sierra Nevada Range.
Photo by Mike Koerner
North Palisade is one of
the key peaks in the
Sierra
Nevada Mountain Range.
The Palisade Crest (as
seen to the right) is the
most alpine region in all the
Sierra's, and contains five
peaks that exceed fourteen
thousand feet. The region
that you see in the aerial
photograph covers the
Sierra crest from Taboose
Pass to Bishop Pass, and is
bounded on the west by
Palisade Creek and the
Middle Fork of the Kings
River. You can view the
opposite side of the crest
by clicking on the following
link -
Dusy and Palisade
Basin.
Because of all this fine
alpine terrain the Palisade's
are considered by most
climbers to contain some of
the most fantastic
mountaineering in all the
Sierra Nevada's.
                  
                
View of the Palisade Range as seen from the White Mountain Sierra Lookout Point many miles away.