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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Hey Mighty,
The thing about this route is you hike to the top of the route, then you climb down a "class three" rib to level with the start of the route. You then cross a gully or snow field to the start. If you wear your rock shoes and you have good route finding skills it's mellow.... or you can easily venture into class five terrain and wonder what is going on. When hail and lightning caused us to retreat from the climb after 3 and 1/2 pitches, we were at the bottom of the rib. We still had to climb out to get to the hike to our car! We finally made a run for it and my partner and I got separated by a few feet and then I got off route on the slick, wet rib and soloed some 5.7, which was dicey. So the descent to the start can contribute to interesting times.
Zander
Edit- What Karl said. Ha ha
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rockermike
Mountain climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 7, 2009 - 09:36pm PT
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Hey karl, nice photos. As I understand, to get to start at some point you cross over the snow and on to a ledge system - you don't go all the way down to the toe. Is the beginning of the route shown in that lower photo of yours?
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Fuzzywuzzy
climber
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Done it 3 times.
The lower crux is not that easy. But I don't pull plastic.
There are options but they all deal you some spice.
I don't remember the pro being that close as you hand traverse out above the pin.
Is that pin still there?
Get solid time on stuff that aren't that committing - people fall off - some get banged up.
Fatherly advice.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Wow Karl, fabulous photos. I know this is a dumb question but I really dislike approaches and descending because they are vagaries. Sometimes Unroped and whatever. This climb looks like a truly stellar send. What up with getting there and getting down?
Never really cared about a rock before. I mean I love to climb stuff, but this creation is special.
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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So any of you Dudes got more beta or pics on this glorious piece of the planet. I've never asked for info before. All rock seemed to me rock. Yeah I know the different compositions and such.... This seems special. Jess asking .... lynne
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Daphne
Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
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Hey Lynne, I totally agree. I fell deeply entranced with this route the moment I heard about it/saw it. It is on my tick list for next summer. I am going to go spend a week in Tuolumne and get acclimated... I follow all Third Pillar threads with great interest. (sorry for mild thread drift)
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Wow, D. can't believe it. I've never even heard of 3P. Special. I'm putting it at the top of my life list. Peace, Lynne
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Pillar party?
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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If one climbed the route, then mailed a letter...
would one be going from pillar to post?
Edit: And if it snowed while one was on the climb...
would one go from pillar to postholing?
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Yeah, gotta make sure I can make it happen. Peace, lrl.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, rockermike...
you know, there is a right time for everything... when the time is right, you will have that ol' gut feeling, needless to say...
and the right folks will be there...
say--walleye... my OH my... what a candid-camera shot as to your face... the eyes are the mirror to the ol' soul... :)
say, and ron anderson---say, well, no harm in the bright clothes, whether expecting a rescue or not... :)
say, and karl---oh say, i just LOVE that rock... great PICS!... VERY NICE.. say thanks to the other for the links, too...
will be praying that all goes well, rockermike... when you do it, make us a nice titled post, so we won't miss it and can share in your joy...
god bless...
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Zander
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Dawn, third Pillar is bump on the right, I think
Looking back up the approach rib.
The pillar
Low on the climb
Much later, a break in the rain
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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Thanks Zander, quite beautiful......
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Daphne
Trad climber
Mill Valley, CA
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Wow Zander- those are magical photos. Come with us next year and do it again or even, again.
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Zander, GREAT photo of the approach rib, that's just the way it is: a big giant house of cards. If there's an earthquake while you're on that thing, yer definitely gonna...
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Social climber
valley center, ca
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mongrel, can't think of a better way to send to the heavenlies. lrl
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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"Hey karl, nice photos. As I understand, to get to start at some point you cross over the snow and on to a ledge system - you don't go all the way down to the toe. Is the beginning of the route shown in that lower photo of yours?"
There's a variation where you start at the toe or you can start a few pitches higher by traversing the ledge. Most Traverse. Didn't see it obvious in my photo.
The descent from Dana Plateau is loose and therefore scary. Not just loose like you grab a few things that move. Loose like you are walking over unstable stuff and sometimes there's nothing solid to grab. Now there are several ways to get down the rib and some are far less sketchy than others. I found that downclimbing the bigger rocks near the arete of the rib was more solid than starting further to the North away from the Pillar and walking easier but far looser ground.
Then there's routefinding when you reach a gully, which you can climb over to the other side or go way down and around and up. It can be confusing.
Full value route even though it's not super pumpy. Talked to a few climbers who felt surprised by it.
Used to be rated 5.9 (ma) didn't it?
Peace
Karl
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Fletcher
Trad climber
a buttery white sand beach... I wish!
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It's quite stunning and easy to pick out as you drive up Lee Vining Canyon as well (and changes with the light throughout the day).
One of these days, when I get a lot more mileage and a lot more confident I might just climb that thing....
Eric
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BlueDragon
climber
Bay Area, CA
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I agree with all who said make sure the time is right.
Listen to Pip's advice. I did almost all those things wrong (there is a post on rec.climbing from over 15 years ago...) and I'm lucky to be able to tell the story. All I got was a permanent dent in the butt. It is a fantastic route, and you definitely want to enjoy it, so stack all the odds in your favor. I lead most of it, and I remember the top particularly well. By then I already had the dent in my butt, so I was very cautious, and sinking two pieces of pro every 5 feet, in between those great hand and arm jams. Earlier on, I went slightly off route. In Wallyeye's photo of the leader, you can see the pro to the right of where the leader came up. For me it was to the left, until I straightened myself out. (After all these years, weird to see that photo and that very piece of rock where I went wrong...) Since I had a near miss, I thought constantly for the next two weeks about what happened, what was done wrong (lots of things) and what I would do next time. Most of them are in Pip's list.
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