I was really into snow and ice couloirs back in the 90’s. The guidebooks were all over the place with their ratings and estimates of steepness, so I made up my own rating system. I actually measured the slope of most of the couloirs I climbed. Each climb got a score based on slope, length, and whether there was a bergschrund. I won’t bore you with my complicated calculations, but I gave 34 couloirs scores from 40 to 171. The Dana Couloir was in 31st place with a score of 44.
My wife and I took a half-day course on Rainier in 1989, so we both knew how to walk on a glacier and self-arrest. Dana was my first couloir climb in October 1993. It was mostly very hard snow, but there was some ice near the top that was so clear that I could see about two inches into it. It didn’t seem that hard, and I had one tool and no rope. Two years later, I took my wife and a relative newbie from work up Dana. One tool each, and no rope. Wife was a little nervous. The newbie was fine.
The Dana Couloir isn’t a good place to fall, but there aren’t many good places to fall in the mountains. It should be firm snow, with no unavoidable ice, this weekend. When you finish the seminar, ask the instructors whether you’re ready for Dana.
