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| The day started by brewing up for coffee and a quick breakfast at 6am... | The Third Pillar of Dana is the sharp notch in the middle of the ridge, and our destination for today - as seen from the campspot | Driving toward the Third Pillar - again, it is the sharp notch in the ridge on the horizon (right side) |
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| Thankfully, to approach the climb you do not have to hike up this 3,000 ft scree slope.. | Just over an hour of hiking, and we've reached the start of the Dana plateau... we started hiking at the road you see in the valley | After hiking up a rocky slope, you reach this flat plateau... very surprising, and a beautiful hike |
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| This is Mt Dana itself, about 13,000' tall (or almost 4,000m) | This is the end of the plateau, and where the top of the pillar is - though you can't tell, literally until you walk to the edge. Elevation 11,500'. | The top of the Third Pillar of Dana on the right, with Mono Lake in the background - 4,000' drop in only a few miles! |
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| Switching into our climbing gear, preparing to descend down to the start of the climb. The descent is steep and extreme care has to be taken... I think it took us 40 minutes for that part alone. | Almost ready to start dropping down... |
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| Third Pillar as seen from the descent. What an amazing piece of rock! | Almost done with the steep scrambling... | The hike had a lot of wildflowers... they were even in the descent gully! |
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| Looking up at the climb from near the base. The "pillar" shape is most evident from this angle! | The start of the first pitch - you can see the upper half of the climb clearly from here. Aesthetic! | New helmet? Check. Glass? Check. |
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| Impossible not to be happy in this spot! At the belay ledge at the start of the climb. | The views from the start of the climb are unbeatable |
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| There is a pretty awesome, but short, 5.8 finger crack in there.. | The first pitch is mostly a scramble after the short 5.9 section | The views of Mono Lake are so mesmerizing, it's hard to resist snapping 100 photos that are exact same over the day... |
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| The 2nd pitch is a bit weird - it traverses left to gain an awkward 5.10a flare. It gets a lot better after that :) | Miles of scree... | The crux 5.10a flare is above this spot - it's a bit awkward. |
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| The rock quality on this neighbouring peak isn't nearly as appealing.. | Looking down at the 5.10a flare... |
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| Short 5.7 OW | Starting the 3rd pitch |
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| Looking up through the chimney at the end of pitch 3. #throughglass | Chimney #throughglass |
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| Entering the chimney, it is hard not to have a smile! | Mono lake hasn't changed... |
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| Starting the 4th pitch - this and the next one are amazing and the reason to do the climb! | Colorful rocks | At the top of the 5.6 chimney |
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| At the top of the chimney, there is this perfect flake to sit on top of! #throughglass | Mono Lake #throughglass | Melissa sitting on the flake with the short 5.10 fingers section below |
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| The 5.10 finger crack there is amazing.. why couldn't it be longer? | Have I mentioned it's hard not to take a bazillion pictures of Mono Lake? #throughglass |
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| Tioga Pass road seen in the background. Here you can imagine why it is not plowed in winter... | The first crux on the last pitch | Nearing the top of the 4th pitch |
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| Happy on a nice perch | Looking down the last pitch... | At the top! |
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| She said yes! | Happy climbers! |
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| The awesome Third Pillar of Dana with Mono Lake in the background | Attempt to find a flat spot for the camera :) | Time to say goodbye to Mono Lake and start hiking back :) |
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| Mt Dana with the moon-like foreground | The wildflowers were EVERYWHERE... at least 5-6 different kinds | How these guys manage to grow at over 11,000', I find pretty impressive.. |
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| #throughglass |
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| Neat rock on the trail | When you descent from the talus slope, it is a whole different world of greenery and life.. |
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| So green! |
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| Tioga Lake - almost back at the car |
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| Tioga Lake |
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| There were some slow cars driving down 120, and instead of fighting the inevitable frustration, I pulled over to wait them out. Learned some interesting history in return!!! | Tioga Pass road - still seems to be an impressive engineering achievement, even 100 years later! In winter, we ice climb on the wall you see in the bottom... |
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| Close-up of the ice climbing wall in Lee Vining Canyon | He did not get what he wanted... | Lobster taquitos, pizza and a mango margarita while listening to a band play, before driving home... The Whoa Nellie Deli is awesome |