North Palisade

History

North Palisade has gone by many names over the years. In 1878, the Wheeler Survey called it Northwest Palisade. A year later, Lilbourne A. Winchell proposed Dusy's Peak after a local rancher. Bolton Brown pushed for a different name in 1895, honoring David Starr Jordan.

In 2009, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer tried to rename it Brower Palisade for environmentalist David Brower, but the idea met strong resistance. The first people to reach the top were James S. Hutchinson, Joseph Nisbet LeConte, and James K. Moffitt on July 25, 1903. They came from the south, checked out possible routes from Marion Peak and Mount Sill, then went up the southwest chute of the U Notch. They worked through a tricky crack system, followed a catwalk ledge, and pushed through icy gullies blocked by chockstones that required class 4 climbing.

From there they hit the southeast ridge and scrambled over granite blocks to the summit. After the climb, LeConte wrote that he simply called it North Palisade and suggested putting Dusy's name on a less impressive peak. That name stuck and was later made official by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

Subsidiary peaks

North Palisade has several named subsidiary peaks on the main ridge crest with less than 300 feet of topographic prominence. Polemonium Peak, at 14,080+ feet with 160 feet of prominence, lies between the U-Notch and V-Notch couloirs 0.15 miles east-southeast of North Palisade and is named for the Polemonium eximium skypilot plant. Thunderbolt Peak, 14,003 feet with 203 feet of prominence, lies about 0.25 miles northwest; it was the last 14,000-foot peak climbed in the Sierra, and during its first ascent a lightning bolt severely shook Jules Eichorn, giving the peak its name.