August 17, 2002

Scotty and I ascended Thunderbolt, Starlight, and North Palisade on our way to Polemonium, and we intended to continue on to Mt. Sill and Middle Palisade. We began our ascent of Polemonium from the notch between North Palisade and Polemonium. We climbed southeastward and upward for a pitch, and then turned northward and climbed a 5.7ish section, and from there it was a few steps to the top. There is probably an easier way to get there from the notch, but we were running short on time and just wanted to go up. We signed in, took some photos, and turned toward Mt. Sill. The section leading off of Polemonium to the southeast was one of the scariest of the whole day. It was only 4th class, but the exposure was tremendous. We traversed a true knife-edge ridge with long drops on both sides, holding on to what seemed to be suspect blocks of granite lodged into the ridgeline. Of course, in the end, the rock was solid, and the climbing was easy, but it was getting to be a long day. The rest of the down climbing into the notch between Polemonium and Sill was easy. Suddenly, most of the day was gone, and instead of thinking of going to Sill, we were looking for a way down. We were now at the top of the V-Notch Couloir, and we started down this. It was quite loose, and the ice was rock hard. We considered rappelling, but our rope was short (100') and we had very limited gear to leave. We down climbed until we came to an intersection, and we decided to climb up this and return to the ridge of Sill. We topped out of the couloir just at dusk, and opted to traverse the south face of Sill to the East Couloir on Sill. For Scotty's take on this peak, click here.