Climbing the Incredible Hulk

I have this group of climbing partners in Iowa — we had been trying to go climb the Bugaboos for a couple summers and kept getting rained out. This summer, we got rained out again, and we decided to go to the Incredible Hulk in California instead. Pretty nice consolation prize if you ask me.

So we loaded up in the van, all four of us, and drove out there in one push. We got to a hotel the first night and organized all our gear, hung out, planned the route and the climbing, and then woke up pretty early the next morning, drove to the trailhead, and started our hike in.

The approach trail — six miles and sixty-five hundred feet of gain ahead of us

It was a super hot day. Ninety-five degrees. There’s no water to be found at the start of the hike, and in the valley, it was just scorching. We had giant packs on with all our camping and climbing gear, and it’s a pretty rugged trail up there. Something like sixty-five hundred feet of gain over six miles. Steep hiking with heavy packs — but we still made good time and got up there mid to late afternoon.

Of course, as you’re walking up the valley, in the canyon, slowly you realize you’re surrounded by these cliffsides, these granite cliffs. And as a climber, you’re just salivating. But as you come up through the valley, the Hulk comes into view. And yeah, you’re just awestruck at the majesty of it. It’s glowing in the sunlight, looks about as crazy as you thought it would. Even crazier, because it looks way bigger than the photos. We were getting all excited and giddy walking toward it.

First full view of the Hulk — glowing in the afternoon light

We moseyed on up, found a really good spot to set up camp. There were a few other climbers hanging out. We chatted a bit, saw what they were up to, and then chilled out for the afternoon — just eating and talking and getting our gear together for the next day.

Camp — with the next day’s objective towering overhead

Unfortunately, I got a terrible night’s sleep. Probably after this trip I went and bought a new backpacking sleeping pad, the most comfortable one you can get. Slept like crap, but still woke up in the morning excited.

Evening light on the granite before climb day

We hiked up and started the Red Dihedral. It’s a 5.10+ route that was established by Peter Croft quite some time ago. The thing is, it’s old-school grading, and it’s burly. We started pretty early and made really good time as far as the climbing went. Pretty uneventful, which is good — I mean, it was amazing granite trad adventure climbing.

The Red Dihedral pitch is crazy. Just this hand and finger crack that keeps on going. I think at one point they graded it a 5.9, but now it’s a 5.10+, which I would agree with. It was quite stout. We had a great climb up and descended without issue — got down with plenty of time to cook dinner and revel in the glory of our ascent.

Looking up at the exposure

We had four days planned. Hike in the first day, do the Red Dihedral, and then Positive Vibes the next — which is apparently one of the most classic trad climbs in the US and maybe in the world.

But after the first day, my partner Perry and I were pretty smoked. We had a very chill second day — slept in, then took a short hike to some alpine lakes and went for a swim, which was wonderful.

Mark and Kale — those guys are heroes and legends. They went up and did Positive Vibes on the second day. I’m pretty envious that they had the gas to make that happen. I definitely didn’t, and honestly, a lot of this trip was a bit of a wake-up call for me.

I’ve been climbing for four years now, trad climbing for about three and a half. This was my biggest alpine climbing trip, and it kind of smoked me. Kind of humbled me. Granted, it’s a different style — a big hike in with heavy packs, long routes, multiple days. I got wrecked, and I’m not afraid to admit it.

And it was honestly kind of motivating. Maybe I want to go get in really, really good shape. Do these big objectives and feel good and have fun and be able to string big days together like those guys did.

Moving through the Sierra granite

They went up and did Positive Vibes the second day, and it was cool to watch their progress from camp. We were cheering them on the whole time, especially when they pulled the crux pitch, which was right in our view. We had our binoculars out, hooting and hollering. That was pretty cool.

The next day, we packed up and headed down. We were all very excited for food and beer and everything that civilization provides. It’s so beautiful up there, obviously, but we were still very ready for a shower and a meal.

On the way down, we were taking a break near the bottom. The descent was done — we just had to walk out through the valley. We were chilling in the shade, and we hear these voices. Actually, back up — we had heard people hooting and hollering and war-crying and screaming up on the route earlier that day. Sounded like someone was having a great time.

And as we’re sitting there, this group — probably the same crew making all that ruckus — comes down the trail, still having a great time. And it’s Jimmy Chin, Timmy O’Neill, and Jim Morrison. Pretty crazy.

We were doing a crossword, and Timmy O’Neill comes up and starts doing the crossword with us. Absolutely aces one of the answers we couldn’t figure out within two seconds, which was really funny — to just be on a climbing trip and have these legends, absolute legends, come by and chip in on our crossword.

Such a great trip with great people. I’m excited to go back and actually do Positive Vibes, and go back stronger and more fit. It was a wonderful trip up in the Sierra Nevada.