How To Fall Off A Mountain

Rich Benbrook

Using the Maps

Mount Whitney

Monarch Lake

Vidette Meadow

Cottonwood Lakes

Onion Valley to
Whitney Portal

Symmes Creek to
Mineral King

Mount Tyndall

Whitney Group

Mount Shasta

Mount Williamson

Palisades

Middle Palisade
Revisited

Thunder Mountain

Middle Palisade
Try Again

Middle Palisade
Take Three

Mount Sill

Thunderbolt Peak
Climbing Up

Thunderbolt Peak
Climbing Down

Thunderbolt Peak
Rescue

Aerial Photos

National Park Service Search and Rescue

Links

Middle Palisade - Try Again

maps:

A few more years went by, and Tim became intrigued with the idea of climbing all of the 14,000 foot peaks. The climb up North Palisade with Kelly and I had been Tim's second 14,000 foot summit, having climbed Mount Whitney earlier, so he had some catching up to do. We started by re-climbing some of the easier peaks I'd climbed before. His work schedule forced us to move fast, climbing some of the peaks as single-day hikes. We climbed Mount Langley and Mount Russell in this manner. We went back up Shepard Pass and climbed Williamson and Tyndall. Although this was my fourth trip to the top of Mount Tyndall, this time we were climbing the north rib, a route new to me. Climbing this near vertical north face brought a whole new challenge as we gained altitude and reached the summit.

Gradually, we increased our strength, endurance, skills and confidence.

Then, in September 2001, it was time to give Middle Palisade another try. This time, we approached from the north side, ascending the south fork of Big Pine creek. This route was supposed to be easier, and easier to find, than my last route up the mountain. The only significant obstacle was a short crossing of a small glacier. We didn't expect this to be much of a challenge, so we lightened our loads by leaving ice axes and crampons at home. Once across the glacier, it was advertised to be a relatively straight-forward climb, though steep and exposed.

As we arrived at Finger Lake, our overnight stop, storm clouds moved in and we got a good dose of rain, wind, and snow. It looked likely that we would be barred from the summit once again. The next morning, though, the clouds were gone and the weather was beautiful. We started climbing at dawn. It took all morning to climb the talus leading to the glacier. The glacier itself was icy, and we had to carefully cut steps as we ascended. We eventually reached the point on the glacier where we were to step off onto the rock, and begin climbing the mountain. During the summer, a large crevasse, known as a bergschrund, had formed between the glacier and the rock, as the ice continued its slow but inexorable slide down the mountain. Although only a couple feet across, the landing area on the other side was icy, and a slip there would mean a nasty fall deep into the crevasse, where we did not have the equipment to effect a rescue. Also, it was getting a little late, so we decided to admit defeat, the second time for me on this particular peak, and turn around.

Perhaps we had been a little hasty in our decision to turn around. On our way down, we passed two hikers on their way up. They were even less equipped than us, and we watched them slip and fall a couple times. We expected to see them turn back at the bergschrund as well, but much to our surprise they jumped over and continued on. We never found out if they were successful, but we also never heard of any incidents on the mountain, either.