Early morning light on the upper pitches of Third Pillar. The descent route is also lit up. Photo taken from Hwy 120.

All Locations > California > Eastern Sierra > Lee Vining Cany… > Dana Plateau > Third Pillar > Third Pillar, Regular… (5.10a/b 6a+ 19 VI+ 19 E2 5b)

Early morning light on the upper pitches of Third Pillar. The descent route is also lit up. Photo taken from Hwy 120.

ID 123159425 ·

Flag This Photo

· Copyright Violation?

Third Pillar

Looking down the route from the top.

Rate Photo

4.5 from 2 votes

Victor Madrid

Oct 1, 2022

“Early morning light on the upper pitches of Third Pillar. The descent route is also lit up. Photo taken from Hwy 120.”

0 Comments

Nearby Photos

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

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

All smiles on the last pitch

Evan looking down at Mono Lake from the Third Pillar of 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.)

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

Sunrise at the Third Pillar

3rd Pillar of Dana Descent.

This is terrible!

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

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

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

Third Pillar of Dana

Solid pro at the start of p2.

Last pitch!

Roberto and Duke on the approach hike.

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

Top of first pitch

The pillar from Lake Mono at sunrise

Summited!

Sydney on the last pitch

Brian crossing the snow gully 7/22/2011.

Looking across the gully to the ledges that mark the normal start of the route, which is just below the large detached flake on the left ridge line.

A stranger took this photo of me and my partner climbing the Third Pillar. You can just about see me sitting on top of the flake at the top of the third pitch. Glad we met them back at the car—incredible climb!!

p4 pro beta: from bottom to top: #2 c4; 00 mastercam; green dragonfly; climber placing #1 and #3 ballnuts which are at your waist for crux moves; a few feet higher, blue totem or .3/.4 offset cam. In hindsight, half rope technique would've been good idea.

Gettin' after it on pitch 5

Maceo, peaking.

Looking straight up the direct start.

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

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

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

Early morning light on the upper pitches of Third Pillar. The descent route is also lit up. Photo taken from Hwy 120.

Looking down the route from the top.

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

Crossing the snow gully to reach the base.

3rd Pillar at Sunrise 7/30/22

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

Taking the stellar view in before the descent

Ginger on Third Pillar of Dana with the route unfolding below

Heading down to the descent trail

Topping out on the Third Pillar

BEAUTIFUL piece of rock

3rd Pillar

Jeremy Freeman on the 1st pitch

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

Eric Collins on 3rd Pillar, circa 1986

Third Pillar.<br>
Photo by Blitzo.

Up up and away!

Tristan on the final pitch

Ginger on p1

Finishing the chimney on P3.

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

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

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

Rob just finishing the 10b fingers section on the gorgeous last pitch.

Looking up at P5. The first section looked unlikely so I skirted too far left and got into more difficult territory. Aim for a right facing corner with a mini roof to its right instead of doing what I did!

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:
<br>

<br>
1. Brass offset, small-ish
<br>
2. yellow/blue offset BD X4 cam or comparable
<br>
3. Blue 0.3 BD cam & sling

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.

the traverse that starts P2

Welcome

Join the Community! It's FREE

Already have an account? Login to close this notice.

Get Started

onX products are built by adventurers, for adventurers. We believe that every adventurer needs to know where to go, to know where they stand, and to be able to share their experiences.
About onX
Careers

iOS App Store

Android App Store

© 2026 onX Maps, Inc. Terms·Privacy