Regular Route 5.10b

Betsy and I, as we have gotten a little older, have enjoyed doing longer but more moderate routes like Mt. Whitney, Mt. Conness, Bear Creek Spire, etc. For our wedding anniversary this year we decided to hire a guide to do something in the backcountry, but a little more difficult than normal. We’ve really enjoyed reading Peter Croft’s guidebooks (love his humor!) and wondered, “gee, would it be possible to have Peter lead us up something?” It is possible.

[Click to View YouTube Video]
Howie of Sierra Mountain Guides shot and put together this Video of the climb

At first we wanted to do Charlotte Dome, but two or three days was too long. Bets and Sierra Mountain Guides settled on the Third Pillar of Mt. Dana. Betsy was very excited when she told me.

Third Pillar of Dana? 5.10b? Backcountry 5.10b at 10,000 feet? I climb 5.10b on a top rope. Bets is a better climber than I am (although off topic, I might nevertheless mention that I am a better kayaker than her) and I was quite sure she would do fine on the climb. But I started to have visions of being at the bottom of the rope, my arms completely spent, looking up. Peter Croft and my wife would be at the top looking down, saying, “You poor, poor, little man”. So I slipped in some extra pull ups in my workout and hoped for the best.

We flew our small plane into Lee Vining, camped under the wing, and Peter was nice enough to pick us up at 5:00 am to take us up Tioga Pass to the trailhead. Betsy and I are speedy hikers but as you might imagine, Peter flies across terrain and for some reason logs and large rocks don’t seem to exist for him. We’d get to a log together, I’d slow down to step over it and he’d be gone. Still, we made great time.

The climb lived up to its reputation, a super classic, fantastic climb with incredible views of Mono Lake and beyond. Both Betsy and I felt great through the moderate sections and had a lot of fun, but were always thinking about that top crux. It was also fun watching Peter move smoothly up the rock. The crux hand-jam pitch at the top turned out, to my great relief, doable for me, although not without some struggle. It’s also one of the most stunning pitches I’ve ever done. Wow. And best of all, my male ego remains intact.

It was also great fun to climb at that speed, since Peter obviously could lead much faster than we normally do. In fact, Peter had told a friend he may or may not be available to get him at 5:00 that evening at the Mammoth airport, but we topped out on the climb at noon, in time for lunch, with only an hour hike out.

Thanks Peter, for a fantastic day out. And Happy Anniversary Bets!