The Palisades region of the Sierra Nevada is located west of the town of Big Pine. It includes some of the highest mountains in California, including Thunderbolt Peak (4,267 m) with its subpeak Lightning Rod, North Palisade (4,341 m) with its subpeak Starlight Peak (4,328 m), Polemonium Peak (4,328 m), Mount Sill (4,316 m) and Mt Agassiz (4,234m).

There are three main approaches to the Palisades:

• From the Seven-Lake trailhead west of Big Pine via Sam Mack Meadow.
• From the South Lake trailhead west of Bishop via Bishop Pass.
• From the South Fork trailhead west of Big Pine via either Scimitar Pass or Glacier Notch

For Mt Sill click here.

From Big Pine's Seven-lake trailhead

Directions from the Bay Area: take 580 east and then 120 east through Yosemite (follow signs for Tioga Rd and Tioga Pass). In Lee Vining (end of 120 east, Mono Lake in front of you), turn south (right) into hwy 395 to Big Pine (130 kms, about one hour). The total distance from the Bay Area is about 500 kms and should take about 5 hours (plus stops). In Big Pine, take the only road that goes west (right), Glacier Rd. The trailhead parking lot is almost at the end of the road (before Glacier Lodge). There is a campground about 200 meters before the trailhead.

From that campground drive up the road shortly and find the hiker's parking lot on your right-hand side (there are bear lockers right at the parking lot). The trailhead is behind the restrooms. The altitude here is about 2,000 meters.

This is the beginning of the North Fork route. And this is the popular "Seven Lake" trail.

The trail goes around a huge hill and coasts three of the lakes. It takes about 2 hours to the first lake. The second lake is at 3066m of altitude. About 1km after the third lake (3 hours into the hike, 3124m of altitude), turn left into the Glacier Trail (instead of continuing the Seven Lake loop).

The trail climbs up a canyon and reaches an enchanting place, Sam Mack Meadow (3280m), completely surrounded by mountains and waterfalls (3.5 hours into the hike, about 3200 m).

The trail turns left about halfway into the meadow, crosses the creek and ascends the ridge. As you ascend, you have a superb view of all the (eight) lakes. When the lakes are not visible anymore, the trail ends, and you simply ascend following cairns up boulders and slabs, until you reach the top of the ridge, which is actually the rim of the glacier. On your right, you have a view of the lake at the center of the glacier. In front of you the Palisades: North Palisade is the one in the middle (the third tallest mountain in California), Thunderbolt to the right and Mt Sill to the left (it looks like a closed fist). You are standing just below Mt Gayley.

The Palisade Glacier is not for the faint-hearted.

The route to climb North Palisade is via the U-notch, which requires ice axe and crampons. Beyond that it's serious climbing up the chimney.

If you want to reach Mt Sill, you have to walk around the eastern border of the glacier, which may be icy, a very tiring and trying experience. If you get to the chute between Mt Sill and Apex Peak, see the description from Glacier Notch.

In august 2003, the left side of the glacier was still too icy to walk without crampons (and dangerous even with crampons). In september 2004, there was still ice, but it was possible to work around it. In fact, the ice was holding the rocks firm (thus minimizing the danger of loose rocks). It was nonetheless a tedious exercise to get to the bottom of Mt Sill. It took two hours to reach the base of Mt Sill from the moment i entered the glacier.

There is a serious chance of falling rocks inside the glacier.

From Bishop's South Lake trailhead (via Bishop Pass)

It takes about 3 hours hiking from the South Lake trailhead (2990m) to Bishop Pass (3645m, 12 kms) through a series of pretty lakes (notably Long Lake, the first one, with islands of vegetation, Saddlerock, which is the third major one, and Bishop Lake, the last major one).

Once you reach Bishop Pass (in about 2h 45'), Mt Agassiz is clearly visible to the south (left).

Mt Agassiz is a two-hour scramble from Bishop Pass. The mountain has three summits: the northern (real) summit, the middle summit and the southern summit. Leave the trail after the rocky switchbacks, when it makes a long curve west and enters the southern side of Bishop Pass. Head for any of the chutes of Mt Agassiz. Coming from South Lake, the choice is usually between the northern chutes and the western chutes. Your reference point is the lake west of Agassiz, Lake Who, which has a permanent snow patch (in the unlikely event that you stumble into them, ignore the smaller lakes that are just little ponds). If you leave the trail before Bishop Pass and head left for the chutes of Mt Agassiz, you are heading for Lake Who. If you pass Lake Who, you went too far. The northern chute (the first steep chute visible from the trail) splits into chutes 1A and 1B: 1A heads straight for the summit, whereas 1B heads for the saddle between the real summit and the middle summit. Both these chutes have much scree, and 1A is also extremely steep. A better choice is chute 2A, the left branch of the western chute that starts just to the left of Lake Who. This chute is flanked by two monoliths and dead-ends into a massive headwall. When you reach this wall, you can easily cross over to your right into the widest of all chutes, chute 2B, that comes up straight from Lake Who.

For a while the best strategy is to stay in the middle of 2B. When it shrinks, move to the left and climb the ridge. From the ridge you will see the summit to your left. If you stay on the ridge, you reach the middle summit, not the real summit. However a saddle connects this summit to the higher summit to its left (north).
Note that (in late summer) from the saddle it is possible to walk down into the Palisades Glacier, cross the Palisades Glacier to the bottom of Mt Gayley and then head down for the Sam Mack Meadow and the Seven-Lake trail to Big Pine. So one could organize a one-way hike from South Lake to Big Pine.

The chute immediately (20 meters) to the left of Thunderbolt Pass is the "Southwest Chute 1" to Thunderbolt Peak, the only way to get near the top without using climbing gears.

The chute is about 1 km long and very steep. About one third of the way, the chute is blocked by a chockstone. (This is a good place to drop your backpack). Walk back about ten meters and look to your left (or right if you are facing up). A narrow ledge allows you to climb straight up without too much exposure. Follow the direction of the chute and eventually reenter it (no choice). The chute splits. Take the right fork. At one point (about 200m from the top of the chute) you are faced by a sort of "ladder" of ledges that can be climbed without gears, but do require some tolerance for heights. If you can climb this 100 meter ladder, you're done, because it ends at the summit block. If not, continue inside the chute. The chute ends at another chockstone, except that this time you can squeeze under the chockstone.

You surface at the edge of the Palisade Glacier, an impressive view. The summit is to your right, Lightning Rod (a subpeak) is to your left. Retrace your steps about 10 meters and find again a ledge to the left (right if you are looking up the chute). This ledge leads to a toothpick stone that can be used as a springboard to climb this very last section. If you are taller than me or a better climber, you will reach the summit block. If not, walk two more steps to the right and find another stone that helps you go up near the summit. The very summit is a 5-meter pinnacle that is impossible to climb with bare hands. There are ropes hanging from this pinnacle but they are in bad condition. Only one person at a time can climb the pinnacle. The summit register should be at the base of the pinnacle (fanatic climbers keep moving it to the top of the pinnacle).

My 2007 time (with a detour to Dusy Basin):

• South Lake (2990m):
• Second junction: 30'
• Third junction: 50'
• Bishop Lake and beginning of the switchbacks (3450m): 2h 15'
• Bishop Pass (3645m, 12km): 3h
• West Isosceles Lake: 4h 30'
• East Isosceles Lake (3350m, 14km): 5h
• Thunderbolt Pass and Southwest Chute 1 (3800m, 17km): 6h 30'
• First chockstone: 7h 45'
• Chute split: 8h 30'
• Second chockstone and top of chute: 9h30'
• Summit block of Thunderbolt Peak (4267m, 18km): 10h 15'
• Thunderbolt Pass (3800m): 12h
• Bishop Pass (3645m): 14h 30'
• South Lake (2990m): 16h 45'

If you hike straight from Bishop Pass to Thunderbolt Pass without losing any elevation (a route that involves a lot of bouldering) you can save time and probably do it in 1.5 hours.

The right and wider chute leads to the U-Notch, getting wider as you ascend. If the chute gets narrow right away, it is not the right one. The right one comes right after a very visible granite slope, just when you have to turn east in order to continue coasting the base of the North Palisade.

• South Lake (2990m):
• Bishop Pass (3645m, 12km): 2.5h
• Thunderbolt Pass (3800m, 17km): 4h
• North Palisade Southwest Chute 2: 5h
• U Notch: 7h

If you also ignore the chute to North Palisade and continue south, you reach the very visible Potluck Pass (that looks like an unpaved road), beyond which is the lake that one sees from Scimitar Pass (south of Mt Jepson).


(Topoquest)

(Mt Sill and Polemonium from the Middle Palisade)

• 2.5 hours to Bishop Pass
• 4 hours to Thunderbolt Pass and the Thunderbolt Peak chute
• 4h45' to the North Palisade chute
• 5 hours to Potluck Pass

• Mt Sill
• Mt Darwin
• Northern Evolution loop
• Southern Evolution loop

Links: