The Powerhouse Couloir
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| The Powerhouse Couloir almost melted out |
"What about the Powerhouse Couloir?" This year's weather has been dry to say the least, but to the creative adventurer it's offered many new experiences. The low snow meant almost no avalanche activity in the normally dangerous couloirs. Mt. Dana is the second largest mountain in Yosemite rising to an altitude of 13,061 ft. Although there's an easy but long hike to its summit, the mountain is known by climbers for it's dramatic steep ridges and gullies leading to the large plateau beneath the true summit.
Paul and I arrived in Lee Vining before the night's darkness set in, allowing us the opportunity to determine the feasibility of our intended line of ascent. This also gave us a chance to have dinner and a beverage or two at the renowned
Tiger Bar in June Lake. The rest of the evening was spent organizing all the necessary gear and settling in for what turned out to be a chilly bivy.
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| Gearing up, OY! |
It was a little weird stepping out of the van and putting our crampons on right away. Where else are there roadside couloirs extending for thousands of feet into the sky? A not so alpine start had us approaching the route around 8:00. Had I known the full extent of the day's climbing, I may have insisted we start very early. Pauls been alpine climbing for much of his life and after a couple years of climbing together I've noticed he doesn't spook easily. "It'll be a great leg stretcher." A person's expectations can be molded by such comments, but I've learned better.
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The start of the route
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Initial snow and ice pitches
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After several hundred feet of easy snow and ice climbing we came to a steeper pitch of thin water ice that Paul led with a quickness.
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| Very thin ice pitch |
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| following the thin ice pitch, photo by Paul |
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| The super-highway nieve section |
After a couple more pitches of mixed rock, ice, and snow we entered the highway section of the couloir. At this point I thought the bulk of the technical climbing was over. Just a nice stroll up the steepening couloir on perfect nieve snow, or so I thought. After reaching the top of the snow where I expected us to exit onto the plateau just over the ridge, Paul started leading straight up the rock face. Initially I was a bit surprised he didn't choose to exit and end the route at the top of the snow, but I would soon understand why. After having a difficult time following the pitch because of loose rock, slabby features, and the akwardness that comes along with rock climbing in crampons it was my lead.
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| difficult step, photo by Paul |
After a difficult step, I climbed up a nicely featured but extremely loose dihedral to a ledge on the ridge where I could see what was ahead. To my surprise, the other side of the ridge dropped off for a couple thousand feet into another steep couloir. Looking up the ridge we had what looked like several more pitches of technical rock to gain the summit. Keep moving. Several pitches later we gained the summit ridge of our climb. Some easy scrambling along the crest felt quite taxing because of the altitude, but the grandeur of the scenery surrounding us lent a sense of feeling totally alive.
We took a quick break to eat and drink for the first time since we started the route also taking the opportunity to soak up the views and the feeling of satisfaction that follows such a great day of climbing.
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| snacking |
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| view down tioga pass road |
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| sastrugi above ellery lake |
After a long walk down the Tioga Pass road and then a final drop back down to the powerhouse at the bottom of the canyon we got some needed java and made the drive back to Tahoe totally spent and satisfied.
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