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Some Words…
Shirley and the Incredible Hulk.
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.
The Photos…
Shirley on the approach hike to the Incredible Hulk (obvious, on the left; August 2010).
Nearing the base of the Incredible Hulk...that's a cool looking little granite tower in the background (Aug. 2010).
The Incredible Hulk from the approach hike (Aug. 2010).
In camp at the base of the Incredible Hulk (Aug. 2010).
Unknown party on the spectacular looking Polish Route (5.10+) on the Incredible Hulk (Aug. 2010).
Unknown party on The Polish Route (Aug. 2010).
An unknown party on the ~4th pitch (pitch above the namesake dihedral...upper part visible below) of The Red Dihedral the evening before our climb (Aug. 2010).
Shirley and the Incredible Hulk the afternoon before our climb (Aug. 2010).
Leading pitch 2 of The Red Dihedral route...awkward stem/mantle (Aug. 2010).
Starting up the dihedral on The Red Dihedral route (Aug. 2010).
The Red Dihedral route on the Incredible Hulk. Indicated belay stations are more or less how we broke up the route (except P2 which I broked up into 2 short pitches ...not recommended). Shirley (red jacket) is belaying me from the base of the namesake dihedral on P3 and I'm nearing the top of it (green jacket). For same instant in time & a different vantage point, see here. A very good route (Aug. 2010).
Leading the (hard) namesake dihedral (pitch #3..our #4) of The Red Dihedral route on the Incredible Hulk. Roughly the same time but from a different vantage point...here (Aug. 2010).
Shirley at the belay stance right above the namesake dihedral on The Red Dihedral route on the Incredible Hulk (Aug. 2010).
Shirley on the easy pitch above the namesake dihedral on The Red Dihedral route...from here, the difficulties are more intermittent (Aug. 2010).
Leading the 5th (our 6th) pitch of The Red Dihedral route on Incredible Hulk. We took the splitter (5.9 - 5.10-) option visible above which was not quite the nice hand size I expected (mostly #0.75 to #1 Camalots & a hard start to boot). August 2010.
Shirley belaying me on the "shattered pillar" pitch of The Red Dihedral (Aug. 2010).
Shirley midway up the "shattered pillar" pitch (6th or 7th pitch) on The Red Dihedral on Incredible Hulk (Aug. 2010).
Top of "shattered pillar" pitch on The Red Dihedral route on the Incredible Hulk (Aug. 2010).
Shirley belaying the final pitch (#7 or 8) leading to the ridge...The Red Dihedral on Incredible Hulk (Aug. 2010).
Shirley nearing the top of the 7th pitch of The Red Dihedral - this is the notch in the Hulk's summit ridge (Aug. 2010).
Shirley admiring the summit block (~2 pitches above) from the notch in the Hulk's ridge. The Red Dihedral route in August of 2010.
Shirley being born again. The final move of The Red Dihedral route involves tunneling through an opening atop a chimney pitch...not too challenging even for me (compared to say Community Pillar route in Red Rocks) and downright spacious for Shirley (Aug. 2010).
Shirley beginning the descent down the SE ridge of the Incredible Hulk after our climb of The Red Dihedral (Aug. 2010).
Hiking out on Sunday afternoon after our climb of The Red Dihedral route on the Incredible Hulk (in background; Aug. 2010).
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