6/26 – Tioga Pass had been open exactly one week when we set out to ski Mount Dana on Saturday. Too bad that week was in late June—most everything off Tioga is done—but the Dana Couloir wasn't a bad way to cap off the season. We booted up a thousand feet of sun cups before hitting scree and after a couple grand of scrambling along a ridgeline we reached the 13,053 summit. We shared it with a couple hikers, but the frenzy of butterflies and spanning views of Mono Lake and Tuolumne Meadows more than made up for it. The monstrous sun cups and sketchy wet releases from the summit to the saddle were a far cry from conditions we found inside the couloir. The northeast facing chute, set far back in a canyon, is known as one of the classic ice climbs in the area. But we found a thin layer of corn atop a groomer-smooth firm base. Mammoth local Hans Ludwig claims we found the last remaining quality stash in the accessible eastern Sierra. A thousand feet later the skis were off and the fun was over. If you aren't ready for summer, down climbing loose scree in ski boots is just the trick. -Tess Weaver