To go with the video with Joe Kinder and The Incredible Hulk.
http://gregorypacks.com/life-show?fid=on-the-trail&cid=Climbing_the_HULK%21 CLIMBING THE HULK! JUN 30, 2013 My first alpine experience was this summer with The Incredible Hulk in the Sierra Nevadas, California. I’m honestly not sure why this had to be my first run at this practice of rock climbing other than the fact it seemed to be a serious way to “cut my teeth”. I come primarily from sport climbing, but I usually try to vary up my climbing world with a little tease of bouldering, gym climbing, and even a comp (which I am awful at). I can usually hang and enjoy the experience, but I always some how resort back to the good ol’ discipline of clipping bolts on hard routes. This is what I love. I love hard moves, strategizing, the process of completion, and all of the frustration in betweens. I get lost in the moment a lot and relish in the projecting mode that seems to be the most important thing in the world at the time. I have a tiny bit of trad climbing experience, but hardly enough to say I am confident. While in Spain last season my friend Adam (Brams) Long was hanging out and I learned that he was primarily climbing trad routes and way more into the adventure side of climbing which bouldering and sport climbing lack. We had just watched the Reel Rock video with Lisa Rands and Peter Croft up in the mountains climbing the Hulk and it just looked STUNNING to me. Summer can be a hard time for good conditions and hard sport climbing so I figured this summer of 2013 I should take it upon myself and try something new, drop the levels a little bit, and stop the painful search for cool conditions and sport climbing (which doesn’t really exist in the summer). This was the first year EVER I have decided not to bang my head into the inevitable failing search for good conditions. I claimed I would “get fat and go trad climbing this summer” and that is partially working out. Hehehe…. I asked Brams if he would take me under his wing and climb the Hulk with me. His face showed confusion and I remember him shrugging with doubt as to if I were actually serious. I told him I would LOVE to go with him because he had done it before. I told him I had a base so he wouldn’t be baby-sitting me, but I also emphasized I would be fish-outta-water and way out of my element. As usual I get pretty obsessed about a climbing endeavor and this was something I talked and thought about for months. We were going to climb the HULK!!!!!!! The Hulk is at 11,000 feet and requires a 3-4 hour hike in. Most folks go in and camp for the duration of their stay. he rock is immaculate white, grey, and orange granite and weathered perfectly and the place is considered one of the best for alpine climbing. The summer came, we made our plans and I drove to Tuolumne Meadows to meet Brams. He was stoked on this whole endeavor and so was I so we kicked it off with a 5.9 in the twilight. This was a lot of fun and a way for us to form a partnership and degree of trust. The next day we drove in, loaded our gear up, and hiked. The hike is serious and I was pretty impressed as to how far it actually was. We were taking our time, having a good time, joking and not taking anything too seriously. We made it in 4+ hours. You camp right below the wall and it lures you all day and night. It is the only thing you see and it makes you feel small. You can watch other climbers as well. Other parties in their camps simply stare at the wall as if it were a broadway show or something else amazing to glare at. Everyone’s looks are of awe. I was taking it all in, noticing the way the trad climbers speak about routes and what is considered “splitter” or high quality climbing. I tried to explain to a few people that this was new to me and they just kinda smiled this sort of apathetic smile. I was into something way more involved than I knew. But that was what I wanted… something extreme, but I wasn’t going to die… hopefully anyway. When you are in the mountains everything is a little more serious. The consequences are a lot more real and everything is heightened to a degree that you keep a conservative approach on the things you do. I mean we were up there climbing and that is risky enough, but when you are climbing and a serious fall or anything that could injure you is present… life and health are very clear. You want to keep them intact and safe and I believe this is a human instinct that we are playing with out there in the mountains. That is the one thing that you will undeniably have in common. We got lucky and scored the best bivy up there which is a solid rock cave enclosed with other stones built up by climbers. The hut sleeps two very well and was solid. The place is known for its wind and this was perfect during those windy hours of the morning or night when it’s utterly exhausting. The first day of climbing we sprang up stoked for the wall. We chose to climb Sunspot, which is a 5.11b. Now normally a 5.11b is isn’t even enough to warm me up for the day trying hard routes. I usually choose to warm up on 5.12’s and multiple of them to try a hard project in the 5.14 or 5.15 range. I figured this route would be no problem to bang out and we could even bang out two in a day or just kill this one and then the next day go for the hardest route on the wall which is 13a. I had nothing to compare it all to. This was just going to be a first step. It’s scary going into the unknown and not at all something that you can just automatically have confidence in. I was sure the climbing would be NO problem, but the experience as a whole… hmmm????… I just wasn’t sure how it would all add up I guess. We got climbing around noon and the second pitch was mine. It was probably 10a or so with chunks of kitty-litter granite and odd facing cracks that I really didn’t know what to do with. I learned quickly that my crack climbing skills were garbage. I wore my normal sport climbing shoes as well, which are literally the tightest size I can get on my foot and refused to cam my toes into any crack due to the sheer pain and hideous physicality of it all. Hand jams always turned into sidepulls or pinches and I would layback EVERYTHING. Brams met me at the belay and I could see he was a little disappointed. By the way I was moving this route was going to take us ALL dang day. I was moving very conservatively and not taking any risks. I didn’t want to fall and I wasn’t comfortable on this sort of climbing style. Brams picked up the pace by leading the next two pitches, which I was so happy about considering how epic they were and how wild the route-finding was. He seemed so confident and it looked so easy for him. I would follow up the pitch cleaning gear, and realizing what it would have felt like leading it. NUTS! I realized I was in over my head for sure and if I were there with someone on my same level we would have suffered, bailed, or gotten seriously hurt. There were a total of 7 pitches. I lead the last two and felt pretty good about it. They were the crux pitches and scary! I held it down with Brams’ confidence and encouragement and I really appreciated it. I got lost on the last pitch and had to do some serious Daniel Woods gaston moves to get back on track and I surely almost fell and ate it. The thing about trad grades are they really don’t calculate up very well to sport climbing grades what-so-ever. Old school 5.9’s feel like 5.12 (sport) and modern trad 5.12 feels like 5.13 (sport)… I really haven’t figured this all out yet, but I do know they do NOT match up. We topped out the route and rapped down. The climbing was fun, but more fun when it was all over. I realized how bad we wanted to get back to the ground even though being up there was so rad and exhilarating. We blasted down the rappels. I hate rappelling. When we got to the ground it all set in. There was such a satisfaction of going up that giant piece of stone. Not just the moves, or the features, or the air below us or the intense wind… it was the fact we got up it. A route in my mind is a pathway up a wall. That pathway consists of moves, problem solving, strength, a mental challenge, and is a satisfaction that can only come from this sort of endeavor. This is what I have learned the past couple of weeks climbing trad routes in the Hulk and at the Needles, CA. Bouldering is akin to the minute moves and perfect execution. Sport climbing is about movement and execution in sections. Trad climbing is about the movement up features and a very broad goal. This is a generalization for sure, but in my experience this is what I have gathered. I don’t know if I will become a mountain-man climbing in Patagonia, but this is a huge eye-opener for me personally as a rock climber of 18 years. I am learning again and that is huge. I have dropped my ego and accepted the fact that I can be a student and progress again and I really like this. Brams and I did one more route the next day, which was a blustery morning with weather moving in. We decided to bang out one more route and it was primarily me suggesting the motive. I figured we were up there so why not? We were tired, and worked over from the past 2 nights up there, but it just made sense. We decided the Red Dihedral would be fit for the occasion. The route is a classic and goes a 10b… in sport climbing terms 10b is something I usually don’t even bother with so I assumed this would be a walk in the park? I wasn’t feeling very confident that day, the wind was scaring the hell out of me, we were rushing to beat the weather, and I was also wearing Brams’ shoes because they were a little bigger and less painful than my wicked tight Miura VS’s. We got up 3 pitches with the wind blasting on us. I led the crux pitch as it was only appropriate considering I held it down on the 5.11’s the day before. The pitch is a giant open-book feature with a hand crack in the middle… PERFECT. I was sketching and groveling my skinny ass up the thing and got way up above a piece of gear in the middle of the pitch. I was adjusting my body so that I could switch feet in the crack and get a nice piece of gear in and continue on. Before I knew it I slipped out of the polished crack and was FLYING down the wall sideways. It happened so fast I still don’t know what exactly happened. When the rope came taught I slammed the wall with my side and hit a giant flake. All I could think about was broken bones poking out of my legs and arms and how detrimental this was. I checked my body for any injuries or anything odd. I was in pain on my leg, but that was just a bruise from slamming the wall. I looked at Brams and his eyes were popping out of his head from shock. He lowered me to the belay where I freaked out for 5 minutes or so with the wind still blasting us. I just kept saying “I suck, I suck, I suck”… We contemplated bailing and just calling it as we were both pretty freaked out. But NO WAY. We finished the route, rapped down, hiked to the camp, got our stuff, and walked out before the weather came. The burgers and beer that night never tasted so good and the new education I gained sunk in just a tad. There is a world of knowledge and experience to be gained in this amazing sport of rock climbing and I will never in my life get bored with it. You can be a master in one aspect but an utter baby in another practice and I think that is one of the most stimulating thoughts ever. I love rock climbing and it takes me places I would never think to go other-wise. It makes me happier than anything and is never easy. It’s important to put yourself in those uncomfortable situations and make do… sometimes you win and sometimes you suck as bad as me. Either way you will gain something that will go a lot further than you think it will. Be safe everyone. -Joe Editor's Note: All photos credit Adam Long and Vitaliy M.
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Freaking Brits..doing what they do, gritstone: 9a Slab? Yea, its possible! (I recognize that slick move at 9:30, it works!) Joe Kinder and The Incredible Hulk: Geshido,
Mac For the boulderers: TennesseeTweakin' from Joe Kinder on Vimeo. Peter and Conrad being badasses on The Incredible Hulk, back in the day: Jimmy, Conrad and friends back in the day too: Geshido,
Mac A few for this week: Tommy Getting his climb on for the Dawn Wall. Part 4: Unearthed with Renan Ozturk A subscriber revived an old awesome VoW, maybe unintentionally? TNF - Chad Expedition. Geshido,
Mac Was going to send this out yesterday, but I totally spaced it...too good to wait until Monday. Petzl RocTrip 2012: Argentina Also, for re-enjoyment, here are the older 2011 RocTrip films.
Petzl RocTrip 2011: China http://sendingpsych.weebly.com/1/post/2012/05/video-of-the-week33.html Making of: http://sendingpsych.weebly.com/1/post/2012/04/video-of-the-week28.html Geshido, Mac This is the last Video of the Week I'll be sending out from Greece. Baffin Island: Spirits of Ásgarðr from ARC'TERYX on Vimeo. Part 3: Unearthed - Matt Segal DWS in N. AZ: Geshido,
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AuthorThis is for the ones that try their hardest for no apparent reason, except for the reason they only know. The ones that provide the inspiration. You. Archives
March 2016
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