North Palisade
17 September 2016
Craig, Bill, and I hit the Palisades from Bishop Pass. Last year I ran up the SW Chute solo and got wrecked in the summit bowl by a nasty storm (my first encounter with The White Whale). It was satisfying to return to the great peaks to see how much I’ve learned in the last year. The chimney was very secure and the rappels well-positioned (minus one janky rap off a diving board near the summit I completely cleaned — don’t want anyone else doing that one!).
Of course climbing fourteeners is a lot easier when the weather cooperates. I think the mountain gods have finally decided I’ve suffered enough over the last few seasons. Either that or they are biding their time until I forget my rain gear…bring it on!
All in all we made a great team. We had each other’s back the whole way and made routefinding decisions together. If this turns out to be the last High Sierra trip of the summer we did good!!
Postcript. My battle with The White Whale came to a somewhat anti-climactic end on this trip. The gray rain clouds rolled back and the mountain breached the blue sun sky in an awesome display of humility and permanence, the former being matched by my light-hearted footsteps upon its flanks. If only we could etch our memories into time for so long as this majestic creature.