Mt. Dana via Dana Couloir Trip Report

On Saturday May 3rd I joined the Sierra Mountaineering Club on a day climb of Mt. Dana in Yosemite National Park.  

We got a 3am start Saturday morning from Folsom and drove through the night down HWY395 to Lee Vining, CA. With a great amount of luck Tioga Pass opened the same day we were planning our trip, so we were able to cut out a significant amount of the approach.  True to the weather forecast, it was a sunny but very windy day on the approach in to Dana Couloir (the Patagonia Houdini worth its minuscule weight in gold).

 After the approximately 4.5mi approach we stopped to put on harnesses/ crampons and some members roped up to practice hammering pickets.

The couloir was lower angle than I was expecting, and made for a fun and easy snow climb (I would leave the second axe in the car next time).

This trip will be particularly memorable to me because it is the first time in 6 years of mountaineering I have had my butt kicked by the altitude.  Going from sea level in Sacramento to 13,000 feet in a day proved too much for me, I was hurting towards the top and was redlining it to get back to the car.  I appreciated the motivation and help from the new friends I made on the climb.

I had been to Lee Vining Canyon in the winter to ice crag, but I have never been up into the mountains east of Yosemite before.  It was a beautiful area of the park, and I look forward to returning and possibly climbing Solstice Couloir next time.