Way Lake & THE HULK(!!!)

Size Matters: New Field of Boulders at Way Lake

Ok, so after staring at my new view seemingly forever, the plan was to meet up with some East Bay folks and get a tour of the recently developed bouldering at Way Lake. Jeff Silcox and Eric Lang have put some effort into establishing a few handfuls of pretty awesome lines and took the time to show us around the area (thanks guys). There's a pleasant hike toward the Mammoth Crest and the boulders are strewn about a rising talus field.

Day two there was like being on Talent Search, or something. I mean, beyond the "standard" all stars like Lyn, Paul , Justin, & Shannon, the scene was topped off with the addition of Randy, Wills, Lisa and Beth. Plenty of action for my camera, to say the least. And Jeff kicked in with the use of a flash-remote he recently picked up, so I was able to play with that for the first time. More here.

Eric Lang sending Ugly Ducking

After two days of pulling down and me having plans to meet up with Rob to venture out to the Hulk, Shannon and I abandoned plans to climb Conness and opted instead to hike around and swim in the Tuolumne River. One of the most relaxing things to do, ever.

On Tuesday, I met up with my buddy Rob, and we headed out to the Hulk. It was to be my first trip out there, and I only knew that it was going to be intense. I had no idea that the hike itself, fighting waste deep through a swamp, hiking uphill for hours, and ending up in one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, was full-value in and of itself. Our packs quickly filled up with the basic necessities of gear, a rope, some food and a sleeping bag. I even brought a helmet and a rain jacket, though I doubt that would've been helpful if the shit came in. I decided that this was heavy enough, and didn't bring my camera on this trip, so the pictures are from Rob's pocket camera.

The Hulk was absolutely incredible. Rob and I woke up early to a perfectly still sky, and headed out to do the Red Dihedral. The climbing was awesome. Since Rob had been on the route a year ago, I lead the crux pitches. The corner was full-body climbing, long, and made me breath pretty fucking hard. The splitter crack above was also rad. Rob kept talking about "finger stacks" whatever the fuck those are, but I found relief in the occassional face holds and via lying back some spots of those cracks. We linked a lot, and finished with about 7 pitches to the top. Maybe 10 minutes of a heavy breeze all day, and we had the route to ourselves. Awesome. I'm going back, and with my camera.

Approaching