R03 TR: Palisades (Big Pine Creek) May 24,25,26 2018

[commonloon]

I did a short trip with henryfk to the Palisades pre-memorial day weekend with the goals of just getting out and possibly going up Mt Sill or Aggasiz. Henry brought along his skis. On the drive out I stopped by Mammoth Mountaineering and asked "Do you think I should bring my snowshoes with me?" The answer was "I'd probably leave mine in the car, but then regret it." Well, I did just that and really regretted not bring them as the snow started to soften up after 11am and later in the day it was posthole hell! Significant snow started around 10,500ft. We camped basically at the tarn (frozen) at the toe of the Palisade Glacier. It was alpine land up there. Weather was mostly sunny (hot & bright!) with periods of clouds, but we did have 1 quick little storm roll thru with a bit of snow and near white out. We attempted NE Mt Sill, but I was having problems with my new crampons. Henry reminded me a few times that I should have my "Systems" worked out pre-trip . Agreed. Henry checked out the class 4 section/traverse and reported that under the conditions we needed protection anyways.

[quietone]

Nice photos, love that area. Thank you for posting

[SNOOOOW]

Awesome trip. I had a buddy give me similar reminders on my splitboard this past spring when I had bought my new crampons for my splitboard but had never tried them out. "You should have had this all worked out before we decided to ski this peak buddy!" I'll bet everyone still had a blast on your trip either way.

[commonloon]

Thanks guys.

Snooow: Yip, awesome time up high.

[overheadx2]

Wow, what a difference a week makes. Same meadow prior to the glacier.

[commonloon]

Wow! Is that Sam Mack Meadow? It was near 100% covered.

[overheadx2]

Sorry, no. This is the meadow on the glacier trail at 11K just before heading up to Sam Mack.

[commonloon]

Still pretty incredible. Thanks for sharing... I have another trip planned and a good reminder of how quickly conditions change in the spring.