Aug 27th 3:30AM The TM campground is repeatedly pierced by the screaming whines of a horse. At 4:30 AM the cacophonous neighing is still going as we drive away towards Bridgeport. Maybe the horse knew something we didn't and was trying to warn us, instead we conclude that less sleep is just what we needed to send.

The sky is thick and overcast at 6 AM in mono village. We should probably make haste down the trail and realize halfway to the Hulk that we left our helmets in the car. Nice- who needs helmets on the Hulk anyways? I've been fortunate to make it out to the Hulk 8 times, but this was the first time the weather was clearly swirling and folding on itself. As though the monolith itself doesn't inspire ample anticipatory feelings! We cross paths with several climbers who are on their way down, fleeing the inevitable. We receive many looks of incredulity, of judgment that we are stupid etc. I reason aloud with one guy that the clouds are pushing north and east so it will probably miss us... or it will collide with everything on the east side, build to massive proportions and then turn back west to destroy us. He smiles and says- "only one way to find out!" After 2 hours and some change we are at the base of the talus field.



With a the weight of uncertainty in my belly I look at the clouds one last time, half hoping for a lightning strike so we can call it all off. Instead about 80 feet up I am hit with the first of many raindrops. Now its just funny. I link the first 2 pitches to the terrace and bring Jared up.



Dihedral is part of the name of the route, so we will be sheltered right? Jared onsights the amazing 10c traverse pitch that finishes with the balancey 10b corner. Now I am at the base of the enduro corner, and sure enough the weather lets off and its go time. In my mind if I can make it past the 11- stemming with 15 feet of rps then I was going to send the pitch. Soon I'm stemming, bridging, and hand foot matching and feeling like an all around rock star. The corner opens up to mostly fingers size with sustained mid 5.10 climbing and I am crushing. I get to the rest before the final 20 feet of 10+ liebacking and see just one cam left on my belt that will fit. I launch up into the lieback, and about 10 feet above the last piece I start making those climber screams that go some thing like "DAT!" and "DEEE-AAP!" with each move. The next sound is "wooooooo hoooo!" as I take the biggest ride of my life in the alpine. A little slack and the dynamic elongation of a 9.2 rope add up to a nice 20+ whip into space. Sometimes this feels more rewarding than sending the pitch. Finish it up fine after a rest. Then Jared comes up and onsights the crux pitch. Proud! Here he is above the burly 11b boulder problem in the great 5.10 corner of the sunspot.


The weather starts to break and we hoot and holler our way up the last amazing pitch. After the 11- liebacking there is a 10c step right that offers exposure of the finest caliber.


The 80m rope gets us down Solar Flare, Airstream, and the Polish- and victory is ours!


We tromp out of there with one thing on our mind. The Mobil. We hit the car for a roundtrip time of 13 hours. It's in the bag! Right? Right? Wait, the horse had been warning us about something.... nah nevermind.

Halfway to Bridgeport a car going in the opposite direction starts flashing me with his brights. I drive an Audi with the xenon headlights so I often get people flashing me who think my brights are on when they aren't- but I still veer to the right a bit- but unseeing as the brights of the other car are blinding me. Then- Dink! Ssssssssshhhhhhhhh! And my tire goes instantly flat. We managed to clip a deer that had already been hit and was down in the middle of the road. The only part of my car it touched was the valve stem- snapping it in half! The tire was fine, but the wheel was done. Maybe I can change out the spare fast enough to get to the Mobil? The Germans in their infinite wisdom put bolt locks on the tires, because people are constantly trying to steal audi tires? Good thing they gave me the wrong key in the kit. Tired and defeated we eat cheese and a snickers and wait on the side of the road with no cell reception until a us forest ranger finds us. A little while into all of this, the deer gets up and walks away. No joke. Yep, he was clearly working with the horse!

A rest day at Budd Lake with mycological enhancement, and a 45mph trip back to Oakland on the spare finish off a perfect weekend! Yeah Mountains!