Inspired by recent reports of the Third Pillar of Mt. Dana being prime for the climb, my mostly-boulders-but-will-sometimes-follow friend and i decided to give her a go.
Friday we roll in around 2pm-ish and are so psyched to be here, Tenaya lake is mostly covered in ice, there's lots of snow and none of it covers the climbs, sweet!
We park at Pywiack Dome and ponder all the route options, the Dike Route comes out as the winner of our psych mostly 'cause we've done it before, and 'cause my friend wants to get his runout lead on. The snow at the base is no problem and is actually somewhat of a blessing.
He leads the first pitch or whatever this first easy part is.
The next pitch is probably the actual start but there's so little bolts that who cares? I lead the next three pitches, and convince him to lead the last pitch to the headwall, meaning he leads the only two pitches without any pro. Whatever he's climbed Blue Suede Shoes so he's chill.
We photograph the curious intrusion in the rock at the summit. Anyone else notice this?
Phobos cliff from the summit.
Saturday we wake up at 5AM, surprisingly chipper. From the bivi we can see the objective of the day, kind of.
A little worried that the clouds are covering the cliff, we set out on the approach anyway, determined to at least have a look down the face from the summit.
The wind has been pretty intense so far, and we're pretty sure our lips are peeling off-wait we're only less than a mile from the road! so we continue and finally make the plateau after almost three hours.
The weather is starting to look better, with clouds clearing and the sun blaring through. But the wind will not stop ripping across the plateau. Our faces are pretty much numb and we cannot take off our down jackets, as much i like an Epic or two, we decide that we'd rather enjoy this climb and decide to try it another day.
So after the trudge out, we drive over to the meadows proper and end up at Lembert at about 4pm-ish. I tell my friend that "I've heard good things about this Cryin' Time Again thing over there, so let's jump on it."
we forgot the guidebook but i remembered where it was supposed to start, then just follow the bolts right?
I forgot how tricky it can be to find bolts in a sea of knobs and lichen, but after a few minutes of staring and wandering upwards they revealed themselves.
This climb has become my new favorite 5.9
Sunday had us just enjoying some perfect weather cragging at the East Cottage Dome. Knobulater, Knobvious, Comfortably Numb, Ballroom Dancing, knob climbing is the BEST!
Finish off with some Reach For A Peach and there you have it, the meadows has treated us well! (well except for that wind part)
Later!
Zack