Middle Palisade

Middle Palisade
Middle Palisade presents as a long, fluted ridgeline of gray-to-brown rock above a glacier and talus moraine covered in snowfields against a blue sky
Middle Palisade's eastern aspect, above Middle Palisade Glacier, in June 2020
Highest point
Elevation14,018 ft (4,273 m) NAVD 88[1]
Prominence1,085 ft (331 m)[1]
Parent peakNorth Palisade[2]
Listing
Coordinates37°04′13″N 118°28′09″W / 37.0702899°N 118.4691380°W / 37.0702899; -118.4691380[6]
Geography
Middle Palisade is located in California
Middle Palisade
Middle Palisade
Parent rangeSierra Nevada
Topo mapUSGS Split Mountain
Climbing
First ascentAugust 26, 1921 by Francis Farquhar and Ansel Hall[7]
Easiest routeEast Face: Exposed scramble, class 3[8]

Middle Palisade is a 14,018-foot (4,273-meter) peak in the central Sierra Nevada mountain range in the U.S. state of California. It is a fourteener, and lies on the Sierra Crest as part of the Palisades group, a group of prominent Sierra Nevada mountain summits that includes multiple other fourteeners, approximately 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the town of Big Pine. Middle Palisade is the twelfth highest peak in California.

Middle Palisade's eastern flank hosts the Middle Palisade Glacier, lying above the South Fork of Big Pine Creek. To Middle Palisade's west lie the Palisade Lakes, Palisade Creek, and the John Muir Trail as it ascends south towards Mather Pass.

Several routes involving exposed scrambling class 3 and/or easy technical rock climbing (class 4) exist on the various flanks of Middle Palisade. Some routes involve travel on the Middle Palisade Glacier. The easiest route involves scrambling (class 3) up a chute on the east face of the peak.[8]

  1. ^ a b "Middle Palisade, California". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  2. ^ "Key Col for Middle Palisade". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
  3. ^ "California 14,000-foot Peaks". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  4. ^ "Sierra Peaks Section List" (PDF). Angeles Chapter, Sierra Club. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  5. ^ "Western States Climbers Qualifying Peak List". Climber.org. Retrieved 2016-03-24.
  6. ^ "Middle Palisade". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  7. ^ Farquhar, Francis P. (1926). Place Names of the High Sierra. San Francisco: Sierra Club. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  8. ^ a b Roper, Steve (1976). The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books. pp. 216–217. ISBN 978-0871561473.