Third Pillar, Regular Route  5.10a

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Type:  Trad, Alpine, 5 pitches, 800 feet, Grade III Consensus:  5.10- [details] FA:  Phil Bircheff and Bill Bonebrake, 1969 Season:  Summer Submitted By:  Eric Burt on Apr 18, 2006 You & This Route  |  Other Opinions (54) Your todo list: Your stars: Your rating: -none- [change] Your ticklist: [add new tick]

BETA PHOTO: The utterly striking Third Pillar of Mt. Dana.

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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.

Photos of Third Pillar, Regular Route Slideshow

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BETA PHOTO: Looking up at the route from the base. Most of th...	BETA PHOTO: Looking east from the plateau past the top of The ...	BETA PHOTO: Looking across the gully to the ledges that mark t...
Calvin Kilcrease leading above the 10a finger crac...	Eric Burt leading just above the first crux on P.5...	Third Pillar. Photo by Blitzo.
Rob just finishing the 10b fingers section on the ...	Starting up the first pitch of the Regular Route, ...	Jeff past the crux section of pitch 2, getting int...
Jeff at the spectacular P3 belay!	Looking down the route from the top.	Jeff on the final pitch, dubbed by some as the "be...
View of Mono Lake from the summit.	Atop the huge, scary-looking-but-solid flake with ...	Bill Geist following the upper section of the four...
Roberto on the 4th class approach gully.	Roberto and Duke on the approach hike.	Eric Collins on 3rd Pillar, circa 1986
Eric Collins on 3rd Pillar, circa 1986	Eric Collins on the summit of 3rd pillar	3rd Pillar
Jeremy Freeman on the 1st pitch	Ginger on p1	BETA PHOTO: Third Pillar of Dana looking mighty impressive on ...
Ginger following the final pitch of the Third Pill...	Ginger on Third Pillar of Dana with the route unfo...	BETA PHOTO: Vincent downclimbing the prow to the right of the ...
BETA PHOTO: Crossing the snow gully to reach the base.	the traverse that starts P2	Around the crux of P4
BETA PHOTO: The top of the descent to reach the base of the ro...	Finishing the chimney on P3.	BETA PHOTO: Brian crossing the snow gully 7/22/2011.
BETA PHOTO: The regular route as viewed form the approach. Th...