Fresno County Highpoint Trip Report

Dates: June 24-27, 2010
Author: Coby King

North Palisade via the U-Notch Eastern Approach

“Now, you guys know, this is a serious mountain.”  So said the leader of our North Palisade expedition a half hour into our summit day, as we prepared to cross the Palisade Glacier.

  My friend Joe Krovoza, who I had roped into ascents of 9 other California high points, including Shasta, Lyell and Ritter, and I knew this was no joke.  The gully leading up to the U-Notch looked awfully steep, steeper than anything we had done before. But I get ahead of myself.

Our North Pal trip started shortly after Joe and I, accompanied by a great collection of Joe’s Davis, California friends, had bagged Ritter in the summer of 2009. We started plotting North Pal but we knew that we’d need some help.  Relying on my Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club contacts, I started reaching out to Sierra Peaks Section leaders I knew.  We found Bay Area climber Joe Stephens, though it took me six months to track him down.

The thing about North Pal is that it required, gulp, ropes, and while Joe K. had solid sport gym climbing and modest outdoor rock climbing experience, my resume in this area was rather, well, thin.  We explained this to Joe S. but he was still willing to take us along.  I obtained permits for a late June entry and, about four weeks before the trip, Joe S. told us that he wanted to invite two experienced climbers, Doug Owens and Steve Curry, to join us.  This was a very fortuitous recommendation, as became clear later.

The appointed weekend finally arrived, and after picking up the permits in Lone Pine and setting my tent up at Big Pine Creek Campground, I carbed up on spaghetti and meatballs at Rossi’s in Big Pine. On the way back, as I was reaching the campground, I found Joe S. and Steve Curry walking along the road (I had never met either one). I invited them to sleep at the campsite and we agreed to meet at the hikers’ trailhead at 6:30 the next morning.

At the trailhead the next morning, we were in for a big surprise.  Our putative leader, Joe Stephens, dutifully met us at the trailhead but was under the weather and wasn’t up to the trip. So, we were four, Doug, Steve, Joe K. and me.  It wasn’t the last time Joe K. and I were grateful to Joe S. for inviting Doug and Steve on to the trip.

The first few hours of the approach were uneventful as we hiked up the alternately roaring and placid North Fork of Big Pine Creek, passing the first, second, and third Big Pine Lakes, and eventually reaching the turnoff to the Glacier Trail that leads to Sam Mack Meadow and beyond to the Palisade Glacier.  We had heard that the trail had a lot of snow, and a fateful decision was made to attempt a cross country trip up to Sam Mack Meadow.  We crossed the creek easily enough and then struggled through brush, snow, and rock up to the meadow.  I was lagging and, by the time I reached the meadow, still winter grey and mostly covered in snow, I was pretty tired.  I made a case for camping there and moving up the next day, which was soundly rejected by Doug. He and Steve pushed on and, after Joe and I rested, we moved up as well.

Joe and I actually found the going from Sam Mack Meadow steep but surprisingly good.  We found parts of the trail and made decent progress.  However, the trail eventually petered out and we found ourselves going cross country with full packs as we went from talus ridge to snow covered draw, often post-holing through the deep snow as we climbed up and up.  Finally, as the sun was rapidly setting at 8 pm, we struggled into camp at 12,200 feet, 4500 feet net gain and 8 ˝ miles from the trailhead in about 13 hours.  We came to rest at the eastern end of the moraine that wraps around the north and west rims of the glacial lake fed by the Palisades Glacier.  There were very few campsites and no running water but we were glad to set up our tents, eat a quick dinner, and get to bed, exhausted.

Joe Stephens had said we would need a rest day to recover from the approach but Doug and Steve planned to go for the peak the next day and instructed that Joe and I be ready to go at 3:30 am.  I was asleep by 9 and up by 2:30.  After dressing and climbing out of my tent, I looked around and saw no activity.  I asked what was going on, and Doug and Steve let me know we were taking a rest day after all.

Mostly relieved, I quickly got back into my tent, undressed, and slept until 7.  That day was a mix of domestic activity, finding running water (20 minutes away via a snow-covered drainage near the remarkable lake at the base of the glacier) and a snow and rock climb by Joe and me to the saddle between Mount Sill and Mount Gayley. We were back at camp around 4:30, got more water, and prepared for the summit day.

On Saturday, we left camp at just before 5, hiked about half an hour, where we picked up equipment that Doug and Steve had stashed the day before and put on our crampons and harnesses.  We then approached the bergschrund at the bottom of the U-Notch (which I noticed was about the same elevation, 13,000 feet, as the saddle we had climbed to the previous day) and crossed it without incident across a snow bridge near the north end of the crevasse. The snow climb began in earnest.

At first, it didn’t seem anything we hadn’t seen before on Shasta, Ritter or Lyell but as we continued up, it was clear this was steeper and icier than anything we had done before. For the first time, I found myself both kicking steps on every step and driving the pick of my ice axe as deep as possible into the snow and ice. The crux was the cornice at the top, the steepest ice slope I had ever climbed.

At the top, a short scramble led to the platform where the third class trail from the west side of the U-Notch terminated and there the rock climbing began.  Doug then expertly led the first pitch up a dihedral, with Steve belaying.  Joe and I were a bit alarmed when Steve announced, while belaying Doug, that he was not feeling well and promptly threw up twice.  Nonetheless, he climbed up behind Doug and cleaned the protection from the rock.  It was my turn and my first technical rock climb began.  It was medium class 5 and I was able to make it up to where a short third class scramble led to the platform for the second pitch.  Joe followed me without incident.

The second pitch, again expertly led by Doug, was shorter but tougher than the first.  I followed Doug this time, cleaning most of the protection but I had a bit of trouble with the crux.  I solved the problem and we were soon all up and facing the upper snow bowl we had seen from far below.  None of us liked the snow, so we climbed around to a point where we could cross a relatively short and level top of the snow field.

  We now started the third class climb on the west side of the summit ridge.  This was exposed with some troubling loose rock, but fairly straightforward (although the last little move gave me some problems) and we were at the top of Fresno County (and the Palisade Crest) at 3:15 pm.  After signing the register and snapping a few photos, it was time to head back down. One recent entry in the register noted: “Summiting at 7:15 pm – Uh oh . . .”.  I was glad that wasn’t us.

We retraced our steps down to near where the top of the second pitch up ended.  From here Doug and Steve secured an anchor and Doug led a rappel down to the next platform.  There was a lip over the platform, and so for my first high altitude rappel I dropped into air.  My rappel technique left a great deal to be desired and my heart was pounding but I made it safely down that rappel and then the next one, as did everyone else.

We had planned to rappel down the U-Notch snow gully but a combination of the lateness of the hour and the softness of the snow led Doug to decide we would down-climb it.  This was in many ways the longest and coldest part of the day.  The safest way was to face the mountain and down-climb one step at a step, kicking steps and driving our ice axes down the whole way.

Finally, Joe and I crossed the bergschrund, got off the glacier and trudged into camp at 8:35 pm, more than 15 ˝ hours after we had left.

After dinner, Joe and I slept until 7.  When we got up, Doug and Steve were gone.  We left camp at 10 am, and struggled to find running water and the start of the Glacier trail.  From there, it was (for the most part) relatively easy going and we followed the partially snow-covered trail all the back to the North Fork of Big Pine Creek.  We reached the Glacier Lodge Trailhead at 5:30, taking 7 ˝ hours to do what had taken us almost twice that on the approach.

After a great burger and fries at the Big Pine Country Kitchen, Joe and I went our separate ways to Davis and LA.  We both commented later that driving home was not a problem, we were both so pumped up by the trip.

For a couple of relative amateurs, we were grateful to have made it.  Our experience over the previous four years definitely was a key to our success, as was the cooperative weather and the great leadership of Doug Owens and Steve Curry. A trip to remember forever.