The Palisades & Temple Crag
Above Big Pine, John Muir Wilderness · near Big Pine · Eastern Sierra
Rock Climbing
At a glance
- Skill level
- expert
- Grade range
- 5.6-5.10a; commitment Grade III-V
- Best season
- July-September (short alpine season)
Permits and booking
- Permit
- Approached from Big Pine via Glacier Lodge (North Fork Big Pine Creek for Temple Crag; North or South Fork for the Palisades). Inyo NF wilderness permit required for overnight (John Muir Wilderness quota trailheads via Recreation.gov); day climbing generally needs none. This is NOT the Mt Whitney Zone. Serious objective hazards: rockfall, altitude to 14,000+ ft, lethal afternoon storms, and glacier/bergschrund crossings.
Worth knowing
- Good for a first timer
- No
Rock Climbing detail
- Climb types
- trad · multi-pitch
- Rock type
- Sierra granite
- Route count
- Several world-class alpine objectives
- Nickname
- The Alpine Heart of the Sierra
- Signature routes
- Venusian Blind, Temple Crag · Sun Ribbon Arete, Temple Crag · Thunderbolt-to-Sill Traverse
- Intl tip
- Serious alpine climbing for experienced parties only - long approaches from Big Pine's Glacier Lodge, altitude past 14,000 feet, and dangerous afternoon storms. Temple Crag's Venusian Blind is the classic moderate. Overnight camps need an Inyo NF wilderness permit; start early to beat the weather.
The guide
The Palisades are the alpine heart of the High Sierra - the range's most concentrated cluster of 14,000-foot peaks and its most…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to The Palisades & Temple Crag — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.1096, -118.491