John and I wanted to climb the palisade traverse to tick off some more of the California 14,000 foot peaks. We decided to climb it in three days. Sleep at Bishops pass day one, beneath North Palisade on day tow and then pack out day three. We ended up getting lost on the way to North Palisade with the dark approaching, so we had to bail in the loose talus filled Starlight Shoot. We rapelled/downclimbed throughout the night with some freinds that we had made on the route. We reached a point we could notdescend and after cutting one of the ropes that was stuck, we decided it was prudent to bivy. We took out or sleeping bags and pads and bivied in a semi horizontal ledge on the chute. The next morning, we somehow found our way down after a few rappells and some downclimbing. We summated both Thunderbolt and Starlight.
Day 1
Day 2:
 |
| Southwest Chute Number 1 |
 |
| Southwest Chute Number 1 |
 |
| Rounding the corner to the summit of thunderbolt |
 |
| Rounding the corner to the summit of thunderbolt |
 |
| Summit of Thunderbolt 14,003 feet |
 |
| 14003 feet |
 |
| Traversing to starlight |
 |
| Milk Bottle of Starlight 14,206 feet |
 |
| Milk Bottle of Starlight 14,206 feet |
 |
| Trying to find North Palisade |
Night 2: Bivy in Starlight Chute
Day 3: Rappel Down
We had made a good call to bivy and we had all of the bivy gear, so it was all good. But trying to get down Starlight chute and our bivy spot was pretty sketchy for rock fall. I later cam back and climbed the entire route car to car in a day with my friend Miguel. I found the spot where John and I were forced to turn back and it turns out that we were on route. It was just a committing swing across to the other side and 10 minutes of scrambling to North Palisade.
No comments:
Post a Comment