My fiance Melissa and I attempted to summit Middle Palisade via a day hike on 9/23/2023, but aborted after passing Finger Lake, and decided to climb up another ridge (on the opposite side of the lake) instead, just to see how high we could get before turning around. By about 500 feet above the lake, we were completely exhausted and decided to turn around. This go-pro footage begins shortly after we turned around to head back down, and dies somewhere a below Brainard Lake.
We left the trailhead at 3:00 AM, and returned to the car at 5:00 PM for a 14 hour round trip.
We were unable to summit mainly due to inadequate fitness levels, as we were exhausted by the time we got to Finger Lake, and had several thousand feet more to climb. We also didn't have crampons, and didn't feel comfortable crossing the ice past the lake over to the waterfall area without them. The waterfall crossing itself also looked really sketchy from afar. We've read mixed reports about whether crampons are necessary, but if the snow was this slick by the lake, we assumed the glacier would be worse. Since we were exhausted anyway, we decided to make one more push up the ridge on the back side of the lake for some photos before turning around. We didn't make it much farther, and the photos weren't worth the extra climbing.
All in all, it was a great trip full of amazing scenery; but this trail is an absolute sufferfest, especially if you haven't been doing regular intense cardio.