Middle Palisade Scramble - California 14er climb in a day

In this episode of Mountain High Adventures on KZbin we head over to the eastern sierra to climb the classic Middle Palisade, one of CA’s 14ers. I met up with an old b-boy friend Lift Rock (Luke) and we were blessed with great weather and a safe summit. Watch the video until the end to see some sweet high Sierra trail running footage.
We took an alpine start at 4:45am from the Big Pine Creek Trailhead near Glacier Lodge, just outside of Big Pine, CA. We took the South Fork of Big Pine Creek and the trail took us all the way to Brainard Lake. From there its a bit of a scramble to get to the base of Middle Palisade where it gets really steep. The Red Band Crux is a short 40-50 foot steep loose section at the base of the NE face of Middle Pal. Once through the crux its a nice 3rd class scramble to the summit. We went light, carrying small ultra running vests, and trekking poles. We refilled water from the glacial runoff.
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[@14erfinisher52]

Nice job getting Middle Pallisade! Shout out to Luke for doing this Beast as his 1st 14er. I'm bracing myself for doing this 14er one day very soon. Looks pretty gnarly up there!

[@mountainhighadventures]

Indeed it is Gnarly! A great climb and endless views…

[@lucasboyd5876]

Great video looks so fun

[@mountainhighadventures]

It’s a good one! You gotta work for it though.

[@lucasboyd5876]

@@mountainhighadventures cool hope to do it when I’m older

[@arinkim708]

Middle Pal...one sweet sierra peak....give the next door buddy Norman Clyde Peak a shot...very fun spicy climb, classic sierra peak :)

[@dmbeaster]

The red band is definitely the way to go. Its very steep, but easy climbing. It is class 3-4 in my opinion. Being in a shallow gully also makes it easier. The crap rock quality is an issue. It is the crux. The Secor route off the glacier used to be preferable, but the ice level has dropped, making it much harder. Very exposed class 4 in the first nearly vertical 30 feet, and trickier than the red band.

[@SeeChadRun]

Amazing views! Glad you stayed safe. Those trails coming down the mountain looked like a blast to run! Also, seems like your audio at the end of the video was removed (music was there, but not your talking). I still watched the whole thing though ;-)

[@mountainhighadventures]

Thanks for the comment Chad! And thanks for the heads up about the audio. Long story, but I’ll fill you in later! 🙏🏼

[@Johnjds]

Nice one, way to go

[@csn583]

Sick, looks right up my alley, right at the sweet spot of my comfort/risk-tolerance level. Focused on the TRT this year but next year I need to schedule some major scramble adventures.

[@zimbaswild]

Nice edit!

[@mountainhighadventures]

Thank you! Welcome to the channel! 🙏🏼

[@mizzyride]

Epic video. That red band is scary. There used to be a bolt to rappel from at the top of it. Is it still there???

[@mountainhighadventures]

We did not see a bolt…it would be nice to rap down that tho..

[@ScottCommon632]

Incredible view!!What’s harder? Going up or down? Which is more nerve wracking - takes more focus?

[@dmbeaster]

Always down. The moves are harder those less physically demanding. And you are tired and less focused.