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This is one I've wanted to do since the moment I realized the view potential from the summit. Middle Palisades doesn't have summits to ski from or any real reason to visit it, unless you just want to tour up to the glacier. The crest above the glaciers is unreal however, and The Thumb puts you right next to them.

I also was saving this one for an un-extreme day. As you can tell from Big Pine, it's not crazy steep going out there. It is however way the heck out there. I also wanted to go, because you can't count on driving in to the meadows usually until spring. Not sure what the snowpack is above Big Pine, but it only gets deeper over the next 2 months.


We parked at the northern McMurry Meadows area around 6800'. The Summit is 13,356'.


I also chose this one for it's "South Ramp". Figuring possible corn, with the predicted warm temps. We'll come back to that ridiculous thought later.


Left the truck at 5am from a sweet camp spot. Soft grass, no people for miles, and 6 miles of 4x4 road seperating us from the town of Big Pine. Don't follow the directions in Paul Richin's Guidebook, unless you have a narrow stance 4x4, and a good attitude towards potentially wrecking your car. I take pictures of everything (obviously). So just think how sketched out I was NOT to take pictures of a creek crossing I never thought we would clear. I was very worried about flipping my truck into Pine Creek.

On ski day, all I could think about was getting back to the truck in time to have enough daylight so we could excavate the road more. With our tiny shovels? It was basically an off-camber, short steep hill, that dumped you in a hole. In the hole is the creek, at which point you make a sharp turn and go back up the other steep side. Getting stuck in the creek isn't the end of the world, you're 3 miles from Glacier Lodge Road to hitch hike to town. Sliding into the creek and even flipping on the descent is the real danger and possibility. At least on the way down I could see my tires hanging on to the edge a tiny bit. Coming the other way out, I wouldn't be able to see ***, and a spin of the rear tire would be the end.

I shouldn't have worried all day. On the way out I looked at the map and realized there are other dirt roads to take. Duh.






Geothermalheating. Or in other words, a hot part in the ground.


Alpenglow just before it really got glowing on the northeast side of Birch. Those gullies have gone through, but are usually just an almost.


The snow down on the East Side is in "transition" to say the least. 100mph wind has spun the snow into chunks. Warm weather for a few days hardened spots into glare ice. Corn snow only exists for moments in just the right spot.


Tiny little guys at 8500 feeding off insects at snowline.




The route goes up the snow couloir to the left of the peak. The Thumb should be obvious by now.


The couloirs on the left of these pics, coming off the north side of Birch, went up steep and long. I never got a visual all the way up them to see if they reached the ridge, but they went long enough to make a trip worthwile. I saw at least two of them go up for at least 1000', at 50' wide, snaking in-between a world of granite. Then there's another 1000' of Apron skiing below them. I guess you could see them from somewhere on Kid Mountain if you wandered to the south side of the summit. Kid Mountain is on the right of the pic above. Kid has some south facing slopes we could have skied and possibly found corn snow. Things really didn't get warm on this day as predicted.

If it looks like we are too high in this pic, the answer is yes. Talking about elevation of course. Richin's guidebook shows you climbing along the south side of Birch Creek, where a north slope leaves plenty of snow. He also says this is a two day ski, meaning you can see where you're going on the first day. We got to the creek in the dark, where it always sounds bigger than it is. Although coming back this way was totally straight forward, going up was impossible. We followed the summer trail to Birch Lake on the map, walking the south side of the ridge above the creek. Although tromping through the high desert is kind of easy in ski boots, we should have gone up to the top of the ridge and skinned on snow. We didn't want to lose sight of the peak. Worked out fine, with a 2 short down climbs, but wasted some time.


Here we are above Birch Lake. The lake is 10,800' and really beautiful. Worth coming to in the summer, and I doubt you would see many people.


Here you can see what "transitional snow" is all about. My soft, wide skis with no edges didn't do so hot on the boiler plate wind hardened crud. But then again, nothing would do well, and you can't ski that stuff well. At least I can't. I would have preferred to be on stiffer narrower skis maybe like BD Crossbow, and should probably just get a pair. When you are obsessed with the peak, rather than the snow, hard snow happens. My fat soft Jak BC's are perfect for Tahoe. My real issue is I won't take other skis, because I don't want to go anymore without my free pivoting tele bindings. Next year they will all have this feature available. I use the Silvretta adapter under a G3 binding. Way more comfortable and efficient. Don't think it's hype...if you tele in the backcountry, you absolutely 100% need a free "AT Style" Pivot.


John was fighting a cold, and finally starting feeling good here about 1000' from the summit. Sunlight and a clear view of the top was what he needed.


Here's my corn run on the South Ramp. Maybe I sub-conciously started believing that to talk us into going. Wind blown crap, and car sized boulders. Hey, at least there was no avalanche danger, and we didn't need crampons or ice axe. The 400' southeast facing couloir that gets you to this spot is about 35-40 degrees, and had big holes around the burried rocks. although this tour is pretty tame in steepness, avy danger could be a real problem. You have no other choice but to boot up this spot above the glacier. The terrain above Birch Lake didn't have any ridges to climb either. With low snow, we had plenty of rocks to weave around and over.


Finally, the jackpot. Middle Palisade Glacier on the left, Norman Clyde Glacier on the right. Above them from left to right is Disappointment Pk, MIddle Palisade, Norman Clyde, Palisade Crest, Mt. Jepson, Polemonium peak, and Mt. Sill being the pointy one with no snow.


North West Couloirs of Mt. Birch on the left. These probably go with more snow. The peak on the right is un-named.


This shot is taken just a hair right of the previous one. You can see the upper bowl we got to ski down to the access couloir. Although hard as a rock, it was smooth as glass and low angle. This shot reveals 2 peaks with obvious goals for ski mountaineering. Mt. Bolton Brown on the right, and Mt. Prater just right of center. Split Mountain is the biggest thing in the back, left of center. Bolton and Prater look like they have 40-50 degree ski descents that drop from the summits, right down to the PCT. Looks like you could go over there from Middle Palisade Glacier, via Southfork Pass.


Another reason why I love this stuff. The possibilities are endless looking in every direction atop the big Sierra Peaks. Of course you usually choose the realistic ones you can do in a day.

We started below snowline in this pic. It's these shots that I like looking at the most. Reminds me I'm not a couch potato.




This was pretty fun to go up and down. About 500'.


Here's where the South Ramp drops steeply to the glacier below the crest.


Here's the snow conditions most people call their worst day ever. I call it a sunny and safe opportunity to go way out there.


Birch Lake was like glass. You could have had a pro hocky game take place up here.


More notexcellent skiing








The Thumb is in the center of this pic. It looks smaller because it's further back, but it goes higher than the surrounding peaks.

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Mike Schwartz
www.thebackcountry.net
mike@thebackcountry.net

[RomanAndrey]

[towelie]

Nice!
Great pics. Thanks for sharing mike.

God. There's so much out there to ski... Endless. And some of the best stuff is waaaay back in there. You guys had a big day. I'd think most folks would do that in a multi-day. nice.

When i first got the Moynier book, i always just skipped past the first half where he goes over all of the tours that take you way back into the range. I'd just look at the single peak descents. Looking at your pics and your TR reminds me that i gotta get out there and do one of those tours one of these days....
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