Trip Report

North Palisade & the U-Notch Couloir

Technical Alpinism in the Heart of the High Sierra

The Palisade Crest at Dawn. From left, the V-Notch Couloir, Polemonium Peak, the U-Notch Couloir (the author's ascent route), North Palisade, the Clyde Couloir, and Starlight Peak.

Progression

BIG PINE, CALIFORNIA — I am standing outside the Country Kitchen in beautiful Big Pine, California when Neil Satterfield drives up in a dusty Subaru.

Tall, tan, and rock-solid, Neil looks like he could carry me, my pack, and half a dozen Sherpas up the nearest peak and still have us all down in time for breakfast.

Neil, along with fellow guide Howie Schwartz, is the owner of Sierra Mountain Guides, a Bishop-based company that guides climbers and skiers throughout the Sierra.

Crossing the Glacier

The Author in the Couloir

Roped Climbing Above

If your goal is to climb all of California's fourteeners, at some point you come to realize there is a break in the progression.

It is possible, at first, to summit the easier peaks with little more than motivation, a map, and persistence.

Each time, you come away with a little more experience, allowing you to tackle the next summit on the list, and the next again.

And then you come to North Palisade.

Though it is not the highest peak in the range, North Palisade may well be the symbolic apex of High Sierra mountaineering.

To reach North Palisade's 14,242-foot summit, you first cross a glacier, then a bona-fide bergschrund, then climb snow and ice in a 700' high couloir, then tackle two pitches of Class 5 rock above.

While I'd acquired some confidence in my ability to ski technical terrain in the Sierra, safely climbing and descending technical rock and ice was another realm altogether.

Without any roped climbing experience, it seemed foolhardy if not blatantly reckless to attempt something like North Palisade on my own.

And so I began contemplating the possibility of climbing North Palisade with a guide.

I'd never tried a route with a guide before.

To be sure, it seemed a little out of character for a dedicated soloist like myself.

But first and foremost I am a pragmatic climber, and if being stubborn about soloing meant staying home, I was willing to try a more flexible approach.

I also knew there were considerable benefits to climbing with a guide—including the potential for growth.

Working one-on-one with a trained professional would provide an outstanding opportunity to learn about roped climbing procedure and technique. Call it an in-the-field clinic: I envisioned soaking up every possible bit of knowledge from my guide, learning the best, most current techniques on a wide range of subjects: setting protection, rappels, footwork, gear.

There was also the issue of safety. If I was going to enter as risky a world as high-alpine rock climbing and mountaineering, I wanted all the odds in my favor. I wanted to ensure, as much as possible, that I'd have a safe and positive experience, and that at the end of it I'd be coming home if not smiling at least in one piece.

And so I began an on-again-off-again search for an experienced Sierra mountain guide to help me achieve my North Pal objective. Time passed, and as I usual I got distracted by one project or another. Just as it began to look like I'd never find the right guide, a funny thing happened: my guide found me instead.

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