Middle Palisade

The Northeast Face of Middle Palisade is a classic scramble of a California Fourteener within the rugged Palisades subgroup of peaks in the High sierra. The route takes you past stunning Finger Lake, with its turquoise glacial water and towering granite slabs. The route then ascends slabs and lots of loose talus on the glacier moraine. The climb itself is a fun third class scramble with superb views of the surrounding area. The whole thing entails about 7,000 feet of vertical gain and 16 miles roundtrip. I completed the route in 7:46 roundtrip, starting at 5:45 am and finishing just after 1:30 pm. There is no FKT information for this mountain, although Hans Florine did it in 8:36 roundtrip as part of his climb of all the fourteeners in 1998. I imagine somebody has done it faster and without the fatigue from the Stanford Loop the day before and knowledge of the route, I think a time somewhere near 6 hours flat would be possible.

Dozens of photos and more details here.

Splits and annotated photo of the route after the jump!

Location (Elevation): Time Elapsed / Split / Real Time
Big Pine Creek TH (7,677 ft) : 0 / 0 / 05:45
Finger Lake (10,800 ft) : 1:45:38 / 1:45:39 / 07:30
Arrive Summit (14,040 ft) : 3:50:45 / 2:05:06 / 09:35
Depart Summit (14,040 ft) : 4:08:21 / 0:17:36 / 09:53
Finger Lake (10,800 ft) : 6:03:45 / 1:55:23 / 11:48
Big Pine Creek TH (7,677 ft) : 7:46:15 / 1:42:30 / 13:31