Thunderbolt Peak is a 14,009-foot summit in California’s Palisades group of the Sierra Nevada. Though its elevation would rank it about the thirteenth-highest summit in the state, its less than 300 feet of prominence usually makes it a subsidiary peak of North Palisade rather than a separate mountain. If counted independently, it is the northernmost fourteener in the Sierra Nevada. Its name arose from an early climbing attempt by noted mountaineers when a lightning strike hit very near Jules Eichorn and abruptly halted the ascent, giving the peak a memorable place in the climbing history of the Palisades.