Palisades (California Sierra)

This article is about the group of peaks in the Sierra Nevada. For the mountain range in the northern San Francisco Bay Area, see The Palisades (Napa County). For other uses, see Palisades.

The Palisades' north faces, from Cloudripper, July 2007

North Palisade and Thunderbolt Peak, from the Palisade Glacier

The Palisades (or the Palisade Group) are a group of peaks in the central part of the Sierra Nevada in the US state of California. They are located about 12 miles (19 km) southwest of the town of Big Pine, California. The peaks in the group are particularly steep, rugged peaks and "contain the finest alpine climbing in California." The group makes up about 6 miles (10 km) of the Sierra Crest, which divides the Central Valley watershed from the Owens Valley, and which runs generally northwest to southeast.

Summitpost quotes Tom Browning, in Place Names of the Sierra Nevada, as saying:

"The Palisades were named by the Brewer party of the Whitney Survey in 1864. '...along the Main crest of the Sierra is a range of peaks, from 13,500 to 14,000 feet high, which we called "the Palisades." ...they were very grand and fantastic in shape."

On the northeast side of the group lie the Palisade Glacier and the Middle Palisade Glacier, the largest glaciers in the Sierra Nevada. These glaciers feed Big Pine Creek.

Notable peaks of the group include four independent fourteeners:

• North Palisade, 14,242 ft (4,341 m)
• Mount Sill, 14,153 ft (4,314 m)
• Split Mountain, 14,058 ft (4,285 m)
• Middle Palisade, 14,012 ft (4,271 m)

and the following mountains in addition:

• Mount Agassiz, 13,893 ft (4,235 m), the northwesternmost peak of the group before Bishop Pass.
• Birch Mountain, 13,602 ft (4,146 m), which juts out further towards the Owens Valley than the rest of the group.
• Norman Clyde Peak, 13,855 ft (4,223 m)
• Palisade Crest, 13,323 ft (4,061 m)
• Temple Crag, 12,976 ft (3,955 m), known for its many rock climbing routes.
• Mount Winchell, 13,775 ft (4,199 m)

North Palisade has some additional subpeaks over 14,000 feet (4,267 m); see the North Palisade article for those summits.

External links

• "Palisade Crest". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1659335. Retrieved 2009-01-21.