Jeremy Collins invited me to climb the Incredible Hulk in winter. He hadn't heard of anyone doing it. I had not either. Anyone climbed it in winter?

We climbed B Line. Not sure I would recommend this route. Red Dihedral is much more aesthetic and is easier (B line has some weird flared cracks). Took a little less than 4 hours (we used the Kong Ducks and simul climbed). More on this topic here Approach and descent, however, took FOREVER.








Some notes on gear from Jeremy:

A couple people have asked so-

Gear I was impressed with from our day on the Hulk:

The BLack Diamond Ultralight Camalots- we had a double rack to #3 and I barely noticed. They really are notably light and just as stable. Even if just adding the 2 and 3 to your rack for when you need doubles would be worth it.

The pack- I had seen the Patagonia nine trails trail running pack and immediately wanted to try it for climbing. The double chest straps keep it stable with one strap extending to the back avoiding any waist belt. The shoulder straps have a pocket for cell phone/camera and topo. This will be my new go to for long days that don't return to the base. It's small enough you aren't tempted to overpack. I had approach shoes, alpine Houdini, GoPro and water/snacks. I generally hate having a pack while leading. Not anymore. I rope-gunned and we simuled the route in only three re-racks. I never minded having the pack on.

The Nano air hoody stayed on the whole climb and regulated well from snowing to sunshine to after sunset. I only added two holes in the offwidth/chimneys. Worth it.

While climbing I did BD crag half finger gloves, and Torque gloves for skiing and belaying. They both worked great. I only popped the half fingers off for a short tips section then popped them back on.

My Natives never fogged up and had the added bonus of Chris saying "you look so retro cool" which is why I'm grinning in this pic after six miles of skinning to the base.

Rock Shoes- I did my trusty Astromans but Chris did Evolv Cruzers which i thought was pretty cool. He wore them with small gaiters in the snow and for all climbing. COMFY!


And notes on Gear from me:
Yeah, the Ultralight Camalots were my favorite new piece of gear. Already donated my old Camalots to the American Safe Climbing Association on ebay and am replacing them all with Ultralights.

The glove situation was the most tricky. I switched between three options, full fingered windstopper gloves when belaying, mountain bike gloves when on easy climbing, and the partial "glove" of the Patagonia R1 when things got harder.

After 20+ years climbing, I finally (finally!) nailed the layering: superlight UPF 50 hoody layer for the brief time on the approach we got blasted by sun and were warm. Then the Patagonia R1. Then a super ultralight Montbell 850 fill down jacket (no hood) and then an ultralight shell, in this case the Outdoor Research Helium. I think this combo gives about the most warmth and mobility that can be imagined because of the double hood (triple with the shell) and double layer on half the hand. Just about every major manufacturer makes a version of each of those layers.

Also highly recommend the ultralight stretchy gaiters. They look dorky, but kept my feet (mostly) dry even when kicking steps down the snow gully.

The Evolv Cruzer proved super capable on the mostly easy climbing and even on the snow. The narrow profile kicks steps well in firm snow. And sooooo much more comfortable than climbing shoes on the rock.