Mountain Project Logo

Electrical Storms on the 3rd Pillar of Dana

Fat Dad · · Los Angeles, CA · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 60

I meant quality not rating.

Tyson Waldron · · Reno, NV · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 910

So, we went for it.

We decided that Tim and I both needed a break from real life... regardless of whether or not we got to tick a big line over the weekend. So we loaded up my Ranger with all the requisite beer and camp stuff and set off for our ninja camping spot just outside of Lee Vining.

The drive out Friday afternoon included heavy rain and lightning at times (even a few fires caused by said lightning), but the Lee Vining and Tuolomne areas appeared to not have gotten any of it. We asked around once we got into town, and everyone said it had been dry all day, but had been full conditions just a day before on Thursday.

On our way to to climb at 11,500ft!

We discussed our options:
1.We don't even make an attempt, and just see whats good in the Meadows.
2.We go for it, true alpine start, hiking by 4am.
3.We take a warm up day, and then go for it on Sunday, since the report was slightly better.

Option #2 was decided on at 2:45am the next morning. A quick breakfast jetboil style, and the drive up, put us at the parking spot by 4am. Right on time.

I was worried about finding all of these things in the dark... the parking spot, the climbers trail, the talus field on the way to the plateau, etc, but everything went incredibly smoothly, we didn't turn around once. Stoke levels were very high.

Tim was hiking fast, and I was sweating and gasping my ass off to keep up, even my trekking poles against his "jack shit" didn't help... He was moving, and leading the approach in the dark without any missteps.

We met the plateau right as headlamps were becoming unnecessary, probably about 5:30am.

Tim on DP at dawn

As Ryan said earlier in the thread, the Plateau at dawn was incredible. Thursday's rain didn't hurt that situation at all.

Dana Plateau nalgene.

I know we were on a major time crunch, but I couldn't stop enjoying where we were!!

The Third Pillar summit at dawn

But, there was a mission at hand, we started our, "deproach" to the climb by about 6:00am.

Sights set on the objective.

I think the rain from Thursday had washed away all of the foot tracks to the start of the deproach. We hemmed and hawed over how to get down, and nothing looked really obvious. Perhaps we missed a cairn, but we were looking. Anyway, we decided on taking a line down into the bowl North of the third pillar and then crossing over a ridge back towards it.

The view from the deproach route we took.

It was loose, but not too sketchy, and eventually we crossed over into what is probably the gully we should have started down, and we finally got the full glimpse of our objective:

Our first look at her. ~6:30am

Some how we were able to navigate the treacherous snow field from the wicked 2013/2014 snow year

I can't believe Tim made me leave the ice axe...

We were on route by 7am.

Route finding became an issue right away, but especially on p2, as I was trying to find the "flared 5.10a fingers" left of the more direct "flared 5.9 chimney" option. I started about 30 feet up some stuff that had no protection, and looked like it had even less higher up. I finally admitted to myself I was totally off route, and down-climbed to a ledge and talked it out with Tim. I decided to go waaay left, probably a good 50ft laterally of the belay, and found what had to be the correct variation. It was tuff! solid 5.9 jamming in a tight corner, leading to shallow, insecure fingers and pro through the crux. Even higher up in the easier OW sections I thought remained fairly sustained and physical. Altogether, we thought p2 was probably the most sustained part of the entire route. I used up essentially our whole rack (I'll admit, I stitched through the crux, but many other sections I was doing anything but) in a long 180ft pitch, and belayed at a very small ledge. By the time Tim made it up to me, we had spent 1.5 hrs on pitch 2. OUCH.

Top of Pitch 2

Tim led pitch 3, and turned it into a monster. Not only did he lead past the belay about 50ft (he belayed on top of that giant ominous looking flake with the .10a fingers or chimney option) but lower down on the pitch he unknowingly took the ".10c LB poor pro" variation, which was very stout and very insecure. Liebacking on a relatively sloping edge with grainy smears for your feet. He nearly took a big one as he struggled to place protection where there wasn't any, right at the crux, but he ended up pulling through like a champ.

Tim on his mega P3

By the time we were on top Tim's pitch 3, we were both way more exhausted than we thought we would be, and the route was shaping up to be way harder than we thought it would be. An uncharacteristic route-finding error by me, .10a giving me a real fight, and Tim's .10c deviation had gotten me a bit out of my head. And the "cruxes" of the route were mine and just about to begin!

I had been overly confident I could just do this route off-the-couch without any worries, and I was getting a bit of a wake up call. Even though the onsight was still intact, it felt really far from it at that belay.

I had to find another gear.

Tim looking up the P4 "crux"

Right off our belay, was the .10b face section that used to have pitons, that everyone talks about. I had it built up in my head that this was going to be the routes' crux, and I was losing steam, a bad combo... I shook it off best I could, found the good nut placements, and flowed through it. We both thought a section a little higher on the pitch was probably harder, but no way was either .10b. This was just the confidence boost I needed!

I had the last pitch as well, and again it went smoothly. The first .10 section was awesome, and the second .10 section was short but super beta intensive on tiny pro.

Me starting the money 5.9 section of p5

finishing up the climb! ~11:40a

We reached the awesome summit at 11:40am and found nothing but clear skies. Time for a well deserved summit beer, a breath of relaxation that we had cheated the weather report, and photo ops the whole way down!

Tim stoked on the summit

Mt. Dana, with some clouds starting to form.

The plateau's beauty was the highlight of the climb for me.

Incredible space.

In the valley just below the plateau, we could see that the clouds were finally starting to look like they meant business, other than just making awesome clouds for photos.

Dana Valley.

We got to the truck just before full conditions were upon us, and even had a few scary lightning strikes a bit too close and loud for comfort on the last 20 minutes of the descent, but nothing bad at all given the weather report.

We drove into Tuolomne to watch the Saturday tourists scramble for cover in what developed into a torrential downpour/hail/intense lightning storm.

We absolutely could not have timed our climb better. We stayed on target with our goal times the whole day, and got it done. We were really pumped up about our success... Our luck with the weather, our staying on schedule, and of course: the onsight.

The next day,(Sunday) ended up forming storms incredibly early. By 9:30am rain and lightning had already started in Tuolomne, just as we were racking up for the West Crack on DAFF Dome. It got nasty fast, and so we assisted some people in bailing off the route by letting them use our rope to double rap form the p1 station, and then we got the heck out of the meadow. It was an intense storm the whole way home, flash flooding in many parts.... We were in awe at how well we had timed the weather.

We know we got away with a big one here, but she is in the bag and ticked!

Thank you everyone for all the help in our mission.

Austin Baird · · SLC, Utah · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 95

Awesome TR. Well-done! And rad pictures.

Colonel Mustard · · Sacramento, CA · Joined Sep 2005 · Points: 1,241

Psyched for you and Tim, Tyson!

Cor · · Sandbagging since 1989 · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 1,445

Good job guys! And as the story goes… Ya don't know until ya go! Great photos!

FrankPS · · Atascadero, CA · Joined Nov 2009 · Points: 276

Good job. Here's someone that didn't get as lucky with the weather this past weekend:

mountainproject.com/v/left-…

Ryan Williams · · London (sort of) · Joined May 2009 · Points: 1,245

Those blue skies look awesome! Sounds like 4am to noon was the only window. Nice job for getting it done!

Tyson Waldron · · Reno, NV · Joined Apr 2012 · Points: 910

I hope everyone that attempted something on The Hulk Sunday is okay. From hwy 395 at about noon, that entire range looked downright scary. Nearly black clouds flashing waaay too often. If all they lost on the mountain was their rack that day, I'd call that a pretty solid success given what it looked like from the road.

I think Sunday caught everyone off guard, the weather showed up so early. Before 10am in Tuolumne...

Thanks for the props everyone, it was a very photogenic send indeed. I lugged my DSLR all the way up to the plateau cause I thought it might be... But that place exceeded all expectations.

runout · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 30

Great TR! Thank you for sharing.

Brad L. · · South Lake tahoe, ca · Joined Nov 2012 · Points: 5

Awesome TR!

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Northern California
Post a Reply to "Electrical Storms on the 3rd Pillar of Dana"

Log In to Reply

Join the Community

Create your FREE account today!
Already have an account? Login to close this notice.

Get Started.