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radavis
Mountain climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 8, 2015 - 07:55am PT
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Hi Friends,
We are heading to the Palisades this weekend with hopes of getting in that fine gully. Anyone been up there this historic low snow year? I think the Eastside probably got about a foot of snow last night, but was the couloir already gettin' icy this early in the season?
Any beta appreciated.
R
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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I would like to know too....but I'll be there mid-June.
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crankster
Trad climber
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My guess is that the recent storm dropped a foot+ on the Palisades. I'd be surprised if the couloir is ice.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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The Mammoth "Dump Alert" email just arrived in my box. 18-24" there...if ice was exposed, it's most likely covered now.
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radavis
Mountain climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 8, 2015 - 09:21am PT
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yeah the concern is this new storm was a cold one and the snow will be unconsolidated spindrift up top. below is photo from 3/8 from sierra mountain guides...this looks more icy then when I was there last May.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Hidden 'schrund
loose snow on slick ice
Warming up on Saturday/Sunday
Might be dicey
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Thanks for the picture. Shocking!
I'm thinking "early season" will be key this year...hope another storm(s) drops a little more before June.
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Flip Flop
climber
salad bowl, california
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Yer gunna die
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retsofymerej
Trad climber
Oakland, CA
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I see the standard snow chute over on the right side of the main icy center of the couloir. That would be the normal way to climb the notch, I think. Anyone been out there that can speak to what that might be like right now?
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Hoots
climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Storm started out cold but warmed over the course of the night, meaning that the heavier snow is sitting on top of weaker. Also was accompanied by 40-50mph winds, so the concern up there is going to be a fat windslab at the top of the notch.
I'd go rock climbing this weekend.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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How was it?
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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BUMP. Any photos of Clyde couloir?
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retsofymerej
Trad climber
Oakland, CA
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Hi all - trying to revive this thread - Anyone been up on Palisade Glacier this season? I want to do the U-Notch next weekend (5/16-17) and am interested to know what kind of conditions to expect.
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Roots
Mountain climber
Tustin, CA
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Please let us know how it was once you get back. Snow is forecasted up there for right now/this weekend.
Good luck!
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Take some pics of Clyde couloir if you can. Thanks.
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JHams
Trad climber
Oakland, CA
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My partner, Goran, and I were just up there this past weekend, May 2-3 2015. We found a beautiful climb (blue ice and neve before the notch with warm, sun-kissed rock to follow) in a breathtaking setting and waded through brutal isothermal snow on our descent.
In detail: Approach: We started Saturday, late afternoon, from Glacier Lodge area - we opted for the northern fork around Big Pine Lakes and hit some 2-3' deep snow on the trail (elev 10700'-10800'). Being late in the day and quite warm, it made for slow and frustrating travel - we did not bring skis or snowshoes. If I did it again, I would take the southern fork, passing 1st, 2nd and 3rd lake, with better views of Temple Crag and minimal snow - we went back this way and were super happy to find the walk so pleasing. The trail leading up to Sam Mack Meadow was a similar sufferfest so we hunkered down 0.8 mi before the Meadow and spent the night hoping for better, more solid snow conditions in the morning. It was a beautiful spot to camp.
We continued our approach at 4am (warm night) and found marginally better snow conditions (we wouldn't know how good we had it until our descent). We stayed left in Sam Mack Meadow and continued to follow the left hand gully at the rear of the meadow. After another, more shallow, gully we were faced with a boot pack going up the moraine (climbers left) and a fine looking, low-angle gully. We continued up the low-angle gully right of the moraine and ended up scrambling up some icy fifth class terrain at the end of the gully to gain the moraine. Following the boot pack, if visible, and gaining the crest of moraine more gradually would have been slightly more straightforward.
From the moraine there are cairns and the start of the couloir is in obvious sight. Difficult travel through snow and lack of acclimatization yielded an approximately 2-2.5 hour approach from our camp below Sam Mack (Mountain Project estimates 1h from Sam Mack Meadow).
The climb was fantastic.
1. To U-notch: Start of the couloir was wonderful neve (no notable bergschrund) leading to maybe a pitch (we simuled the route) of AI2 blue ice climbers left, snow covered ice climbers right. 2 good screws placed. Continue up the steep snow/ good neve to the notch then traverse climbers right around some rock to the chimney pitches. No windslab at the time. Easy travel.
2. Chimney pitches were pretty spectacular - wonderfully steep for 5.6, well protected, fun in boots - bear right toward the top. We did this in 2 pitches (could be done in one).
3. Ridge traverse - we traversed south on some slab then crossed over to the south side of the ridge - stayed on the south side for the entirety of the traverse (mostly 4th class following a visible ramp with a couple of flanking 5th class moves). The rock was warm and wonderful. We were at the summit around 11:00, it probably took us about 4 hours to climb the route.
4. The descent - One 30 m rap just south of the summit gains the ramp on the south side of the ridge. Reverse the ridge to the top of the chimney, 2 30m rappels down the chimney (pins deemed trustworthy) got us to the top of the notch by 12:00. We started to down climb the notch, and while this was quite efficient, having seen some rappel stations on the way up and preferring to rap the ice section, we elected to make our way toward the rap stations. This is where things started to get very slow. Rappels were of questionable integrity - we did perhaps 6? We added a good nut to one station, deemed another unacceptable and opted to rap off a v-thread (we left some orange cord for the party behind us). It would have been much more efficient to descend the snow until the ice section was reached (skipping upward of 4 rappels), make one v-thread or find a trustworthy anchor out right, make 1-2 30m rappels past the ice couloir, then continue the descent to the base of the gully.
From the glacier, we continued to descend at a grueling 750' an hour though knee to waist (sometimes nipple) deep isothermal snow all the way back to Sam Mack meadow. There were claims never to climb again, never to climb again over 8,000 feet, concerns that we might succumb to exhaustion, etc. Attempts to glissade were sometimes (briefly) successful, other times I sank 3+ feet down, bottom to water or rock. At ~120 lbs I think I had it a bit better than my ~180 lb partner.
By 6 pm (7 hours from the summit) we finally made it back below Sam Mack, pretty drenched, rather tired and happy to be out of the snow. It took us less time to approach and climb as it did to descend. We packed up, hiked back to the car and drove back to the Bay.
Gear: one 60m double, light rack (full set nuts, a few cams, 4 screws, we did not place any pins), ice tools, crampons
I wish we had a picture of Clyde Couloir - seemed snowy without much visible ice (in contrast to V and U notch)
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Hell yea! Looks beautiful up there! Quite nice for a first post...
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radavis
Mountain climber
San Francisco, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - May 11, 2015 - 12:29pm PT
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thanks for the great info JHams, I can't believe all the recent storms after all this drought. things are upside down. back in April we opted to go south where the snowfall has been a lot less and climbed mt. muir. hope to get to the palisades next weekend if possible.
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drc
Trad climber
Durham, NC
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Was just up there.
As of 6/3 there was still a narrow snow corridor to the right of the ice,
but it was shrinking very fast. In the notch itself snow was ok. No rope needed but 2 tools helpful. Schrund can be jumped or crossed by a couple small bridges.
Summit ridge is a bit spicy because it is covered in very soft/loose snow.
Glacier is a total slushy, kind of a final kick in the ass at the end of a long day
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drc
Trad climber
Durham, NC
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Yep. Only stayed a few minutes on the summit, because it was brutally
windy and cold. Base camp on the moraine is t-shirt temps in the sun.
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