Alone on the Third Pillar of Dana photo by Drew Smith.

All Locations > California > Sierra Eastside > Lee Vining Cany… > Dana Plateau > Third Pillar, Regular… (5.10- 6a 18 VI+ 18 E1 5a)

Alone on the Third Pillar of Dana photo by Drew Smith.

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Atop the huge, scary-looking-but-solid flake with great 10a fingers on pitch 4 (pitch 5 if you do the direct start like we did.)

3rd Pillar of Dana Descent.

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Brad G

Jul 21, 2016

“Alone on the Third Pillar of Dana photo by Drew Smith. ”

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The utterly striking Third Pillar of Mt. Dana.

Atop the huge, scary-looking-but-solid flake with great 10a fingers on pitch 4 (pitch 5 if you do the direct start like we did.)

Alone on the Third Pillar of Dana photo by Drew Smith.

3rd Pillar of Dana Descent.

Current (as of Sat 15 July 2017) conditions of the snow field traverse to get to the base of Third Pillar.

Looking up at the route from the base. Most of the route is just to the right of the left skyline.

Roberto and Duke on the approach hike.

Not a bad view from the summit of the 3rd! -photo by Tim Klein

The regular route as viewed form the approach. The red line closely follows the route.

Linda finishes up the last moves on the stellar final pitch of Third Pillar.<br>
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photo by danafelthauser.com

My recommendation is to taking the left route variation because it lands your belay on this sweet detached flake. Plus it's all-in-all better climbing.

Third Pillar of Dana

Starting up the first pitch of the Regular Route, Third Pillar of Mt. Dana.

Crossing the snow gully to reach the base.

Top of first pitch

Brian crossing the snow gully 7/22/2011.

Evan looking down at Mono Lake from the Third Pillar of Dana

Summit shot, topping out on 3rd Pillar of Dana. Photo by Ryan. Sun 4 Aug 2013.

All smiles on the last pitch

Jeff on the final pitch, dubbed by some as the "best 5.9 pitch in the universe"!

Third Pillar

Looking down the route from the top.

Calvin Kilcrease leading above the 10a finger crack on P.4.

Found this towards the end of P4 after the crux. Not really needed as there were options for other placements. We ended up making an anchor here.

An unforgettable climb and views while sitting out a few storms. Clear sunny skies in the morning got ugly real fast. Curtains of rain passed us and over Tioga Pass Road.

third pillar on the left. approach/downclimb on the right

Roberto on the 4th class approach gully.

Looking straight up the direct start.

near the top

Last Pitch on Third Pillar. <br>
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**flake being climbed is kinda loose/scary. Finger crack to climber's right harder but safer.

Eric Collins on the summit of 3rd pillar

Ginger following the final pitch of the Third Pillar of Dana

Third Pillar of Dana looking mighty impressive on the approach

Ginger on p1

Kurt on top after leading the amazing final pitch.

Jeremy Freeman on the 1st pitch

3rd Pillar

Jeff past the crux section of pitch 2, getting into the wide 5.7 stretch.

Eric Burt leading just above the first crux on P.5.

Ginger on Third Pillar of Dana with the route unfolding below

Pitch 4 protection, for the section right after the layback flake. It is well protected...there is no ledge fall potential if you do the following:
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1. Brass offset, small-ish
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2. yellow/blue offset BD X4 cam or comparable
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3. Blue 0.3 BD cam & sling

Vincent downclimbing the prow to the right of the gully to reach the base of the route.

Low down, I think it's pitch 1

Eric Collins on 3rd Pillar, circa 1986

Summit, with Mono lake

the traverse that starts P2

Up up and away!

Topping out on the Third Pillar

Bill Geist following the upper section of the fourth pitch. Nice exposure!

Looking east from the plateau past the top of The Third Pillar. Mono Lake is in the distance and 5,000 ft down.

Rita on the last pitch.<br>
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Photo by S. Cox

Downclimbing to bypass the snowy gully. Up high is some exposed 4th class but it gets gets easier and more obvious lower down

Pouring over Mono Lake and the Pillar. Took this picture real quick before ducking back under the tarp.

Having fun on the Third Pillar, Regular Route

Topping out the Third Pillar on a perfect Sierra Day!!

Third Pillar.<br>
Photo by Blitzo.

BEAUTIFUL piece of rock

Eric Collins on 3rd Pillar, circa 1986

About halfway down the descent.

Finishing the chimney on P3.