Near Bishop Pass, Sunday morning
Last water for most of the day. We avoided scooping up the little fish, and definitely used our iodine
Slightly off-route on the way to Thunderbolt Peak (should be 3rd class)
Arriving at the ridge
Our early-afternoon destination is Mt. Sill, the high peak on the right. Below is the Palisade glacier, and the smaller peak on the left is Mt. Gayley
Descending the 5.9 summit block of Thunderbolt, using two tied-together strands of 6mm and 7mm webbing
Booth got a dubious belay on his way up
Booth
Summit of Starlight Peak
Booth going straight up the summit block on Starlight
The gap between Starlight and North Pal. The route we use requires a leap of faith -- or at least long legs.
Booth having left the security of the stem
Summit of North Pal, about noon
Resting at the U-Notch. Booth took along all the old food he could find in my house. We had dried squid (don't know where this came from), an old Chinese tofu candy that we both decided was too old, and seaweed strips. In addition, we had 3 slices of bread per day, 17 peanuts, and 2 kg of maltodextrin ("Carb-boom" brand)
Sun cups that always form near the summit of Polemonium.
Me, beginning to get a bit weary, with the "three agro" hat that Booth gave me (Booth had returned from China two days earlier, and was a bit jetlagged still)
"Best view in the Sierra" of the Palisades, from Sill. Booth skipped the view and went down, complaining about the altitude.
Finally got to refill on water at 3 PM, thanks to the snowfield coming down from Polemonium
Endless boulder crossing. We sped through here, though Booth's knees regretted it.
First glimpse of the base of Norman Clyde, Middle Palisade, and Disappointment Peak. Palisade Lake is in the shadows in the right (the JMT/PCT goes through there), and the higher unnamed lake is where we camped for the night
In the name of expediency, we picked a nasty ridge that we downclimbed. It was a miracle that it went, but still required steep downclimbing and hand jams (with thorny plants that lodged hundreds of micro thorns into my hand).
Camp
7 PM and it's dark already! Climbing in late September has disadvantages
Next morning, we tried to climb Middle Palisade but did Disappointment peak instead, due to a bad call on the choice of gully (and leaving all route descriptions behind). Palisade Lake and the JMT/PCT is on the left. We hiked down the large valley that afternoon, then took a right up LeConte Canyon, up through Dusy Basin, over Bishop Pass, and down to South Lake. 22 to 25 miles total, going from camp (12,000') to Disappointment (13,900') down to 8,070' on the JMT, to Bishop Pass (12,000') and down to South Lake (10,000')
Gully leading to Disappointment. There were 4 or 5 nasty spots, which required very careful climbing. There were rapell anchors above them, which would have been very useful if we had a rope
Summit of Disappointment, looking over at Middle Pal
South Fork of the Big Pine, and Owens Valley in the background
1957 summit register of Disappointment. The peak sees a handful of ascents per year, and the route we took is probably climbed every 5 years or so (it's not a route to recommend)
Packed up camp at 11 AM, ready for 25 mile hike back to the car
Devils Crags. The traverse of them all has likely never been done. It take about a day to approach them
Palisade Lake
JMT/PCT along the side of Palisade Lake
Getting a bit tired of the maltodextrin
A very pleasant hike
One of many deer we saw in the valleys
Grouse Meadows in LeConte Canyon
The creek going down the slabs was very nice
Booth was determined not to smile, but failed.
Hiking up to Dusy Basin
Back at South Lake trialhead at 10:45 PM. Pulled into Pasadena about 3:30 AM
