Incredible! Colin Murphy and I sent the Red Dihedral route on the Hulk this week. What a phenomenal trip it was – perfect weather, long days, warm granite, and good company. Colin said it was his hardest and best alpine climb to date, and what an honor to have been there to share it with him. Enjoy the photos and hopefully Colin will share his video footage at some point too. ~ Howie
July 3, 2014: the video from Colin is here!
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- Approaching.
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- The Hulk comes into view!
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- Hulk aka Ygdrasil
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- Incredible fin of clean granite.
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- Camp setup.
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- early pitches
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- below the Red Dihedral
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- The fun begins. The 5.9 dihedral has no move harder than 5.9 but when you put them all together the overall effort is 5.10+. No matter how fit you think you are, your heart will pound, your feet will ache, and you will gasp for every thin breath of air until you get to the 10b “rest” moves.
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- “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
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- Getting up high near the Shattered Pillar.
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- The upper pitches.
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- Exiting the “birth canal.” Note the the pack is off, stuck in the hole like a placenta attached to an umbilical cord.
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- Summit!
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- Rappel.
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- Descent to camp.
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- Thunder clouds rising to the North.
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- Thanks Hulk!
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- And thanks to our sponsor: Ole Smoky Tennesse Moonshine