The Palisade Traverse (Sill to Thunderbolt)

Pedro Venancio and I went up and did the Palisade Traverse last summer via the North (L) Couloir under Mt. Sill (14,154 ft.). From there we took the long ridge to the V-Notch and up to Polemonium Peak (14,081 ft.) via its Knife-Edge and then rappelled into the U-Notch to find The Catwalk route up to North Palisade (14,249 ft.). We then rappelled down to find our way to Starlight Peak (14,200 ft.) by staying on the eastern side until just below Starlight, where we then angled west to scramble up to the 'Milk Bottle.' After that we rappelled down and kept to the eastern side again to find the Underhill Couloir, where we then angled west to scramble up to Thunderbolt Peak (14,003 ft.). After completing the traverse we backtracked to the Underhill Couloir and rappelled down onto Palisade Glacier. We put on crampons to get to the boulder field, rested there for a while, and then trekked all the way back to our camp in Sam Mack Meadow.
*Pedro climbs Starlight in this video and he's pictured in the thumbnail
Quiet by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license:
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Artist: audionautix.com/
#palisadetraverse #easternsierra #thepalisades

[@grega.4556]

Starlight. Wow. Nerves of steel.

[@dontbe2silly]

Incredible positive educational wonder.

[@annechen7372]

OMAIGOSHHHH!!! I was holding my breath watching your friend climbing that spike!!! So DOPE!!! Thanks for sharing!

[@ronaldrhodes69]

Single day, five peaks! Well done!

[@LiveHardxLoveHard]

WOW. This was insane. Seriously inspired (although not attempting this one anytime soon 🤣). Great commentary too!

[@jasonpair69]

Wow - no bivy - bold - fantastic work!

[@kreeperfrm559]

This dude in heaven while society is burning down....take me with you I'm willing to pay🙏🤙

[@kreeperfrm559]

@@illyavsroamings right on!

[@wealthtrekkers]

You guys have some balls!

[@evoxpop2088]

Amazing, just keep on climbing, those views are awesome! WOW 5 peaks!

[@lb8848]

Have done Sill and Agassiz but failed on North Pal. You guys are rock hounds. Great route. Great moves. Loved the vid. Bravo.

[@reneerivera138]

wow...thanks so much for sharing...outsanding accomplishment congrats

[@BackwardsBilliards]

Great video!!! Beautiful view.

[@armandob.castenelli3525]

Wow, breathtaking views.😍😳👏👏👏I'm in love💙

[@parkerstone8154]

Wow. That ridge is intense...

[@katskyofficial]

😲😲😲 wow... that crazy! Take me with you!

[@jamesbadham228]

Wow, the rope's pretty useless on Starlight block with no protection? What a fine day out. Wish I could do that.

[@adventureswithbecketandxena]

Wow!! Beautiful place. I would love to hike (or I should say climb) there. 👍

[@NickkciNick]

This is a great video! Nice job. I climbed Sill and Polemonium a couple years ago. Headed back for the others tomorrow!

[@NickkciNick]

@@illyavsroamings We came up via Palisade Basin. Got all three peaks! Long day, but perfect weather! Tons of fun.

[@4plum]

Awesome video! I climbed all these peaks, but on 5 separate trips from the bottom :-) Climbing Starlight from our camp close to Thunderbolt Pass was the most challenging route-finding and funnest class 4 route I've ever done.

[@4plum]

@@illyavsroamings my friend wrote a trip report with some pictures, in case you're interested. arturo.crespoweb.com/Pictures/Starlight07/

[@4plum]

Thanks! I'll let Arturo know. It took him 3 attempts, so when I joined him, he knew the route pretty well. Took me 6 attempts on Middle Pal.

[@20robertang]

That is amazing! All those peaks are on my list, I don’t really know if I can achieve it. I need trainings for mountaineering skills. Congratulations, guys!

[@leetintary2074]

Worth to see just for the milk bottle ascent.

[@wellseasonedhiker]

Insane guys. WOW!

[@olgasolorio9544]

Best video yet! Enjoyed listening to the commentary and the views are breathtaking!

[@bradpertner1035]

Nice job!

[@jon-kyle4823]

incredible effort - congratulations!

[@KeyofDavid5778]

Absolutely amazing climbing and photography.... Last video I saw you were on top of a fourteener with an earthquake !!! Irvine mabey ?.... this looked much more relaxing for you. You're so cool calm and collected....Glad ur home safe !

[@TVinmyEye]

Is that “The Adventurous Pedro” Pedro? Lol

[@michaelgrubb8896]

Congrats and great video. I'll stick to the trails and leave the peaks to you.

[@soloventurer8177]

I want to have you as my go to guide because anyone doing high elevation mountains or peaks is definitely very adventurous.

[@robinhamilton2]

My hat is off to you.

[@wsiddiqi]

Amazing!

[@stephlikestohike]

hey illya!! awesome video haha

[@stephlikestohike]

@@illyavsroamings lucky, im hoping to be there for even small little walks in a few weeks haha

[@DEESyt]

what a great video, came over from FB cheers

[@rtnslnd]

Those bivy sites atop polemonium glacier are tripping me out. how does anyone sleep there? absolute madlad masterclass

[@skycruzer41]

This absolutely outstanding....I am sick n tired of seeing all these weekend warriors on top of whitney holding that sign...I am former seki ranger and i would like to add myself to your pro climbing group...I am not a pro like you but can be helpful....congratulations to all in your crew!

[@dreamweaver5516]

WOW!!!!!!

[@aadiduggal1860]

Incredible! Thanks a lot for sharing. I’ve got some more training to do before I attempt this one, but it’s certainly on my list! I’m planning on just doing Mt Sill this summer via the Big Pine Creek trailhead. I’ve done Midpal and Lyell, so I hope I can do it. Were you ever protected on your ascent up to sill?

[@bobthrasher8226]

Nice. How's the air-quality in the mountains? Able to escape the smoke?

[@velocitytrack]

Hey hopefully you see this soon. My climbing partner and I are going to this in a few days (9/3-5) but we're planning on starting an thunderbolt and ending at Sill to descend the L couloir back to camp near the glacier. We're planning on climbing up the North Couloir of thunderbolt, but unsure of the conditions of the bergshrunds and snow in the couloirs? How was it? looks pretty dry from your video.

[@velocitytrack]

@@illyavsroamings thanks! We'll attempt to send it from the east side still, should be passable and I kn ow the descent from Sill

[@silencenhikes6692]

Ooh man that seems sketchy. Did you sleep there or you made it back in the dark?

[@silencenhikes6692]

Illya Vasquez wow crazy man i thought you would just bivy on a ledge or something. Well this video is proof you made it back safe, haha. Good on you

[@silencenhikes6692]

Illya Vasquez i see nice. 👍see you in the next one.