August 17, 2002

Scotty and I climbed Thunderbolt and Starlight on our way to North Palisade, and we planned to continue on to Polemonium Peak, Mt. Sill, and Middle Palisade. We began our ascent of North Pal from the notch between Starlight and North Pal. From there, we we climbed directly up the ridge, and then turned out onto the north face below the summit. We traversed southeastward and upward, then turned 180 degrees and up to the summit over large blocks, mostly 4th class. We signed in and took photos, and headed down the tourist route on the south side. We elected to rappel the 5.2 section to expedite our ascent, and then traversed southeast and down with numerous sections of difficult down climbing. We made another rappel nearly to the bottom of the notch between North Pal and Polemonium Peak, climbed the rest of the way down into the notch, and then climbed up to the top of the notch. We began our ascent of Polemonium from there. For Scotty's take on this peak, click here.