Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Middle Palisade

Bob P. and I day hiking Mid Pal on a gorgeous day. Feel free to check out my 22 pics from Thursday. I happened to take my pulse oximeter along.. Bob's SaO2 at the summit was 93%! I guess some people are just made for climbing.

http://gocarine.smugmug.com/Category/MiddlePalisade-July26-2012/24435697_2Rj7sZ#!i=1992779851&k=5j9T22G

Most people would be under 90% at that altitude. My pulse ox broke, but when I go by the Palisades next week, it will be a lot lower anyway (on the JMT.)

Nice Pics, looked to be a perfect day. Could you share
any tips for a first timer? also how long was your day?

Thanks in advance for your input

Best Regards,
Rick

Rick:

The approach is partly decent trail and partly talus and scree that can be a ton of work. There is about 50 yards of snow you must cross (crampons not needed). The peak itself involves a lot of class 3 scrambling. It's roughly equivalent to doing the final 400 on the Whitney MR four times. There is a short section at the beginning and one move just before the summit that are a little harder than anything on the final 400. The rest of the scrambling isn't very hard.

This was Carine's first climb with this much scrambling, and she did very well. There is a lot of loose rubble in that chute, and she carefully negotiated everything while only knocking down a few pebbles. It took us just under 15:30, car to car, including a one-hour break to shoot the breeze and enjoy the scenery. As a comparison, I would guess that if Carine and I put the same effort into the MR, it would have taken about 13 hours.

Summitpost.org has more information on Middle Palisade here . Email me or post on this thread if you have any other questions.

Bob

Bob,

Much Thanks for the input. Being in my 60's I'm
not into long long days... Is there a good spot to
camp near the base. How many miles in from the TH?

Thanks Again,
Rick

Rick:

I'm 63 and still doing long days. I did a Williamson/Tyndall day hike at 60 and a Whitney double at 61. Mt. Ruskin took seventeen and a half hours a few weeks ago. You don't have to give up epics just because you're old, but it takes much longer to recover.

Most climbers doing Middle Palisade camp at Finger Lake. There are several good campsites there. You can also camp lower at Brainard Lake. If I'm there overnight for multiple peaks or a technical route on Norman Clyde, I camp at the lake several hundred feet above Finger Lake. (This is the largest lake between Finger Lake and Norman Clyde.)

Bob

I am in my 60's and when stationary at 14,000 ft my SaO2 runs around 85%, using a Nonin GO2 Achieve pulse oximeter (purchased at REI). If I am exerting myself moderately, it drops to 79%. Heavy exertion results in a reading of around 71%. In clinical practice the accuracy of any reading below roughly 85% is often checked with an arterial blood gas sample. Some claim inaccurancies are often seen below 85%. So I do not confidently know what my readings in the 70% range mean. However, as Harvey noted, the O2 sat of 85% at rest does not seem surprising.

Not only does Bob P. load his red blood cells well at 14000 ft, but he might also benefit from a slightly higher red cell mass, as he lives at a higher elevation than most of us in California. This would provide him additional benefit. Of course, the most likely reason for Bob's achievements in the mountains is due to experience, skill, and superb conditioning!

Jim F

PS: Rick, I day hiked Middle Palisades in August of 2005. As I recall, there were excellent shaded campsites on the east side of rhe outlet of Finger Lake. (I am assumimg you will be approaching from the South Fork of Big Pine Creek.) Watch out for the snow bridge at the outlet early in the season.

Congratulations! That is a Sierra classic.