Polemonium Peak
The Palisades, Big Pine · near Big Pine · Eastern Sierra
Mountaineering
At a glance
- Grade
- technical
- Elevation
- 14080
- Best season
- June–September; couloir best early season
What is here
- Terrain
- glacier-peak
- Amenities
- Palisade Glacier high camp · Usually combined with North Palisade · Highest named glacier in the Sierra nearby · Guide services offer it
- Best for
- A technical Palisades summit paired with North Pal
- Features
- Sharp summit beside North Palisade · Gained from the U-Notch couloir · Often climbed with North Pal · True glacier-mountaineering setting
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Glacier travel & bergschrund at the U-Notch · Exposed class-4 climbing at 14,000 ft · Rockfall in the couloir · Altitude and involved retreat
- Beginner friendly
- No
Guides, rentals and operators
- Guided trips
- Yes
Mountaineering detail
- Skills
- glacier · snow-ice · roped-rock · altitude
- Style
- mixed-alpine
- Altitude
- 5
- Route notes
- A sharp Palisades summit right beside North Palisade, gained from the top of the U-Notch couloir via exposed class-4 rock — often bagged in the same push as North Pal from the glacier
- Beta note
- ~14,080 ft; U-Notch couloir + Class 4; glacier travel, rope, axe & crampons
- Intl tip
- The sharp summit right beside North Palisade, often climbed with it in one big day from the Palisade Glacier. Reached via the U-Notch couloir, then exposed class-4 rock to the airy top. It shares the Palisades' seriousness — glacier travel with a worsening late-season bergschrund, couloir rockfall, real altitude, committing position — and one of the crest's finest perches. The nearby Polemonium Glacier is the Sierra's highest named glacier. Strong glacier and rock skills essential.
- Directions note
- Park at Glacier Lodge / Big Pine Creek trailhead — approach via the North Fork
The guide
Polemonium Peak is the elegant, sharp summit immediately southeast of North Palisade, and the two are frequently climbed togeth…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Polemonium Peak — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.0958, -118.5119