Big Pine Creek / The Palisades
Big Pine Creek (above Big Pine, Hwy 395) · near Big Pine · Eastern Sierra
Backcountry Skiing
At a glance
- Vertical
- 5000
- Best season
- April–June · Expert spring ski-mountaineering only · The most serious terrain in the range
Permits and booking
- Permit
- No permit for day tours; wilderness permit for overnights (Inyo NF). The Palisades hold California's southernmost glacier and its most serious ski-mountaineering terrain. Extreme, glaciated, high-consequence. Expert only.
Worth knowing
- Gear you must bring
- Beacon · Probe · Shovel · Skins · Ski crampons · Ice axe (+ second tool) · Boot crampons · Rope & glacier kit · Helmet · Harness
- Gear worth bringing
- Airbag pack · Pickets · Ski-mountaineering rack
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guides
- Sierra Mountain Guides · International Alpine Guides
Backcountry Skiing detail
- Nickname
- V-Notch & California's Steepest Skiing
- Directions note
- Park at Glacier Lodge / Big Pine Creek trailhead
- Ates
- extreme
- Tour types
- ski-mountaineering · multi-day
- Summit
- 14248
- Approach
- Very long — multi-hour to multi-day approaches into the Palisades cirque and its glacier (California's southernmost)
- First timer with guide
- No
- Guide recommended
- Yes
- Avi zone
- Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center · esavalanche.org
- Signature lines
- V-Notch Couloir · U-Notch Couloir · The Palisade Glacier basin
- Intl tip
- Big Pine is on Hwy 395 between Bishop and Independence — Copper Top BBQ is the local legend. The Palisades tower above the town; the summer approach to the glacier (hiking guide) is a classic in its own right. This is the crown of the Eastern Sierra, and it demands the utmost respect.
The guide
The Palisades, reached via the Big Pine Creek drainage, hold California's most serious ski-mountaineering terrain — a wall of 1…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Big Pine Creek / The Palisades — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.129, -118.434