Incredible Hulk
Some Words...
The Red Dihedral
P3
P6
Sacramento airport just before 10pm on Friday night and a long line at the Alamo rental counter. A night time drive over the Sierra crest while enjoying the anchor leg of the Swan Thieves on audio. 2 am arrival in Bridgeport and a couple hours of sleep in the front seats of the rental on the shoulder of 395 briefly interrupted by a (polite) visit from CHP. First in line (out of 1…what, no crowds?) at the ranger station in the morning and a quick breakfast in some dive in town. Smooth hike up to the base of the Hulk – thankfully disregarding the Supertopo beta for the final part of the approach (go right of the cliffs, not left or through them). Three parties on the face: on The Polish Route, on Positive Vibrations, and on the Red Dihedral (our line of choice). A large dinner in camp and an early wake up on Sunday. First ones on route. Resuscitation efforts on one camera fail - shit. The short pitch before dihedral is hard already and the dihedral itself is pretty damn sustained (& not clean style-wise for me). Feeling effects of altitude. Splitter above looks pretty but hand-size it’s not (at least for me)! Rest of the pitches are OK but not too memorable. The birth canal at top is plenty large even for a fatass like me. Top out in the afternoon and back in camp by 5. Hiking out by 6 and make it to within a mile of trailhead before headlamps come out. 9:30pm at Rhino’s for pizza and a 2am arrival in a Mo’6 in Sacramento (feeling effects of pizza all the way and through the brief night). A 4am wake up call and a pre-work 6am flight home. Wish we could climb more in the Sierras. The end.
Some Photos...
Shirley on the final boulder field approach to The Hulk (looming on left) on Saturday.
Nearly at the base of The Hulk with a cool (steep!) granite tower in the background.
Relaxing in camp and watching three different parties on three different routes!
...like these two dudes on the spectacular looking Polish Route (5.10+)
...and a couple on the Red Dihedral route (P4).
Shirley admiring the Hulk in the late afternoon the day prior to our climb.
Sunday morning & we're off...this is the start of pitch 2 of The Red Dihedral.
Starting up the namesake dihedral pitch on The Red Dihedral.
View of us on the dihedral pitch from basecamp.
Nearing the top and the crux of the route (pitch 3...our 4).
Shirley at the belay atop the crux dihedral pitch...starting pitch 4.
Shirley nearing the top of pitch 4.
Starting pitch 5...we went up the obvious splitter but you can also apparently go left.
Shirley following the "shattered pillar" pitch (#6 I think).
Nearing the top of pitch 6.
Shirley belaying the 7th pitch...one that took us to the ridge of The Hulk.
Approaching the notch on the 7th pitch.
Topping out in a notch in The Hulk's ridge.
Shirley making light of the squeeze through move at the very top of the route (yeah, it wasn't that bad even for me).
Starting down the SE ridge on the descent.
Hiking out.
