Day 5 (Layover Day) - Climb Thunderbolt Peak
Acclimatized and enthused, the climbing team gets an early start on a classic peak in the Palisades, and our first 14-er of the trip. Doug, Tina, Jan, Mitch, Margi and I climb Thunderbolt Peak (14,003’) in grand style, with everyone displaying their unique personal technique for surmounting the class 5.8 summit block!
28 Photographs
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Our target for today, Thunderbolt Peak (14,003’), is one of the classic climbs in the Palisades.
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The approach onto the ridge (shown with the darkened line on the left) is up a series of chutes filled mostly with loose talus and boulders. Yuk!
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Doug and Jan start up the chute.
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The first chute reaches a dead end, so we work our way around the more solid walls...
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...and into another chute...
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...that’s steep enough in sections to require all fours.
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Just a little bit more of this slippery junk...
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...and we’re finally on the ridge! The Palisades Glacier covers nearly the entire backside of the Palisades - an impressive sight.
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Now the best part begins! Tina follows Doug up the solid walls to set up a belay...
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... while Jan finds the best seat in the house to enjoy the view!
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Margi makes her way up...
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...while Jan again finds a great perch just below our summit (behind me). Starlight Peak stands with its pinnacle summit on the near horizon.
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Doug and Tina traverse the last bit of ridge to the summit block on the left.
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Doug jubilantly waves from the top after setting up the top rope and aid lines for the group.
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One by one we all make our bid on the summit. Margi starts maneuvering up...
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...and beams her smile from the top.
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Jan makes the transition onto the short arrete...
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...and finishes with a bear hug on the summit!
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Mitch gives it all he’s worth...
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...and shows his unique style on the finishing move!
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Mitch comes back down, and then it’s my turn.
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With climbing shoes and the benefit of having seen the others work the pitch, I free-climb onto the summit (without the aid lines) and look back at the rest of the team’s happy faces.
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Tina tops out...
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...and Doug manages to keep smiling even after belaying all of us for as long as it took!
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We move back down to the shelf on the ridge and eat a much-deserved lunch.
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We take a shortcut on the way down, rappelling over the dead end we had to circumvent on the way up...
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...with a fun drop through a channel behind the chockstone.
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Back at camp, one tired, happy team! (L to R: Mitch, Jan, Dale, Tina, Doug, Margi)