BETA PHOTO: The utterly striking Third Pillar of Mt. Dana.
Description
This route is one of the high Sierra classics. All 5 pitches have excellent climbing on very high quality granite. While most of the climbing is on cracks there is a mix of face and chimney climbing on the route as well. It can be done with a 50 m rope, but a 60 m rope will make things easier. Supertopo has an excellent description of the route in their High Sierra Climbing book (p. 108). Other good references include Secor's The High Sierra (second edition, p. 376), Croft's The Good, The Great and The Awesome (first edition, p. 183) and Moynier and Fiddler's California's High Sierra (second edition, p. 374).
P.1 (normal start). From the initial horizontal ledge system, the route gets right down to business with a short 5.8 fist jam crack in a right facing dihedral. One will be tempted to continue on the arete above the dihedral, but it is a bit simpler to traverse over to another 5.8 crack that heads up and diagonally to the right. At the top of this the angle briefly lessens to 3rd class. Belay at a tree.
P.2. Traverse left at the base of the face and start up towards a hand crack that eventually narrows to a finger crack. The climbing on this pitch starts at about 5.7 and has a few moves of 10a at the top of the finger crack. The system widens to an off width, but this section is most easily done by using the face moves available. There is a belay stance just below the off width, but things will go better on the next pitch if the belay is set up at the next opportunity above the off width about 20-30 ft higher up.
P.3. From this belay there are many parallel cracks that head up to a large detached flake. The climbing here is approximately 5.8, but can be a bit harder or easier depending on the exact route taken. Once the flake is reached there are several choices here as well. Underneath the left side of the flake is a very enjoyable mid-5th chimney, while on the right side is more 5.8 fist jamming. Take your pick - it's good either way. Belay on top of the flake on a 12" by 6 foot balcony with a spectacular view of Mono Lake.
P.4. directly above the flake is another 5.8 crack that leads to a short steep 10a finger crack. The 10a section can be bypassed by going right, but it is really very nice and well protected. Above the finger crack is a difficult face section. The only pro here is two fixed pitons. Supertopo rates the difficulty of this section as 10b. It certainly rewards good balance and a long reach is handy for clipping the pitons. There are other options, which are either run out or harder. This section is short and my recollection is that the hardest moves are right by the pitons. Belay at a tree.
P.5. This part of the route has been described as "the best 5.9 pitch in the universe" (Moynier, p. 374). While most of it is 5.9, it actually has two short sections of harder climbing (10a or so) that some refer to as the crux of the entire route. Both are just above good rest stances and so pro can be placed and the moves contemplated. Note that the first difficult section comes early in the pitch and pro can be placed in a finger crack. A long reach will allow placing the pro while in a good stance, while a leader with a shorter reach will need to commit to climbing into the finger crack before being able to place the piece. Once a small roof is surmounted another good stance is reached along with the start of the next difficult section. This one involves a thin crack. It can be done as a lieback, but that's not the only way and may not be the best way... Place a small nut high before committing to the moves. From here the route gradually steepens and the pillar gets narrower, eventually narrowing to some 5 or 10 feet. Looking straight up to the point at the top with only blue sky behind can be somewhat intimidating! However, the climbing actually eases in difficulty here and has solid jams. The top is slightly overhung, but is bypassed by traversing to the right (place good pro before traversing) and then performing a strenuous mantle. It's an awesome way to finish a route!
Location
Once the Dana Plateau is accessed, the Third Pillar is fairly obvious as a prow jutting away from the main cliff face towards Mono Lake. Hike to the edge of the plateau just north of the pillar. Stash any gear you don't want to climb with here and descend the 3rd/4th class loose rock into the second gully north of the pillar. Care must be taken here because of the amount of loose rock, but things become more solid with the descent. Hug the south (right as you face down) side of this gully until you can traverse across a ridge into the first gully north of the pillar. From here descend to a point about 200 ft above the base of the pillar where a ledge system marks the normal starting point of the route. (A direct start can be made from the base of the pillar that adds an additional pitch.) There is often snow in this gully, but it is generally unnecessary to bring an axe or crampons. Either kick steps to traverse or if it is too icy, just descend a short distance to where the angle eases and come back up on the other side. After climbing the route, return to the parking lot the same way you came up along Glacier Creek.
Protection
Bring a set of nuts and cams from .5" to 3", doubling up on some of the medium sizes.
Awesome route! When I climbed it, the guys camping near us returned late in the night and told us they had an epic on the route, leaving several cams on the last pitch in the dark. So we got up very early and did the approach knowing these treasures awaited us.
The route was deserted. We went all the way down the gully for the direct start. While we were in the middle of the first pitch, a party came across the usual ledge and got in front of us! We had a great time, but the other party got the cams.
It is worth noting that the books seem to diverge on the early pitches. I believe there are two choices, head towards the left after the first pitch, as described above ( and in ST ). The ST "expanded" version as well as M&F descibe staying staying towards the right, which has more sustained climbing. Both variations meet at the top of the flake, coming from the left and right respectively.
Definitely a classic route worth the loose deproach!
More beta:
In the sun from sunrise till about 1:00ish.
The direct start first pitch, albeit JTree-esque grainy, is worth doing for extra value. Don't go too far below the original start (ST topo is well drawn)...Fun roof to flakes and a corner to EZ wide crack or face. (190+', 10-)
To add to (correct) the above description of the 3rd pitch...The beginning of the right side of the huge flake variation is more like 9+/10- stem/lieback fun which eventually (with some effort) protects decently with grey - blue TCU's and offset brass wireds. Its 5.7 with slightly scary wedged flakes/daggers in the chimney above the lieback crux to the sweet belay.
With so many other variations of variations, one could do a different route each time!
Climbed it this weekend for the second time and it was even better than I remembered it. Some beta:
P3: The 10a fingers is great fun. There was a fixed nut near the crux so it was like a sport crack.
P4: The supertopo recommends going up (10b) and left from the piton. This part is sketchy and has brittle loose feet. I chose to go straight up past the piton. One long reach gains a great flake and good pro.
Yep, Dennis is right on for pitch 4 - because a big chunk of rock came out a few years ago, creating the flake hold. Now it's 5.10a (and better climbing) going straight up instead of the off-balance 5.10b moves left.
By Greg DeMatteo From: Flagstaff, Az Apr 7, 2008 rating: 5.10- PG13
I may have been out of shape at the time, but I found the cruxes of most pitches to be serious and sparsely protected. It seemed like whenever there were tenuous moves there was either no pro or ledge-fall potential. The crux moves in particular involved very committing moves with a potentially nasty fall into a corner.
That being said an amazing route on a striking feature.
Climbed it in June. The route is awesome. However, the climbing is hardly consistent. There are some moves which are 5.10, but the rest of the pitches goes at a lower grade. The last pitch is the best.
Some snicky marmots live on the top. Try not to leave any food fr them.
Dana Plateau
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