Saturday: we woke up around 6:30-7am and leisurely ate breakfast. Rich wasn't feeling well from the altitude and decided to stay behind (he couldn't eat anything the night before). He insisted that I go along without him though, and after struggling with the decision I left him to sleep. Pavel and Michal let me join them so we became a party of 3. Around 8am we were scrambling up the 3rd/4th class that got us to the 5.8 bulge. Since we were a party of 3 and switching leaders is painful, we decided to lead in blocks. Since I was tagging along I had no chance to argue about getting the Red Dihedral pitch (that I had convinced Rich to let me have) - it was Pavel's lead. :) In retrospect, it was harder than I expected, and I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it all that much on the sharp end of the rope so I was thankful for Pavel's energy (and this is a route I want to repeat sometime anyway). After dispatching the awkward 5.8 bulge that starts the climb, Pavel continued for a full pitch up some insecure 5.9 climbing. From there, the dihedral loomed above us. Wow, what a sight! It turned out to be quite sustained and the promised stemming opportunities were hard to come by. Pavel made great work of it. The top move (5.10b or 5.10c depending on who you ask) didn't seem that hard, perhaps since I was tall. Overall though, the grades seemed quite stiff: I am used to grades in the alpine being softer... on this climb, they seemed at least as hard as if the pitches had been located in Yosemite Valley!

Next was my block of leading and I was ecstatic with the opportunity to lead the second highlight of the route - the 5.10a splitter hand crack. One pitch with several 5.9 moves brought me close to it. From where I stopped it was over 200ft (had to simulclimb a bit) to the huge ledge under the Shattered Pillar. Some delicate climbing on easy terrain brought me to the base of the actual 5.10a crack which loomed above me intimidatingly: steep and relatively featureless! After placing some good pro I launched into it, but the finger locks with insecure feet stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to hang for a bit but eventually figured it out and enjoyed the rest immensely (it got wide enough for hands). I found it pretty pumpy and grabbing the top lip with relief will be a moment I'll remember for a long time.

From the base of the Shattered Pillar, Michal took over the leading. He made short work of the 5.9 section bypassing the actual pillar (which has bad rock) and with a couple of pitches took us to the top of the ridge.

Once on the ridge, a 3rd class ledge traverse deposited us at the base of a dirty 5.8 chimney/double crack. Pavel stepped up to the leading task again here, and took us to the summit in one heroic pitch (this leads to bad rope drag I'm sure!). I have no idea how Pavel did this so effortlessly, but I had a crazy tough time with the keyhole squeeze at the very top, making me extremely glad I wasn't leading through it. Also, the 5.6 chimney was dirty, it bruised and repeatedly wanted to spit me out... the squeeze itself felt like it took me forever to get through - for a moment I wasn't sure if it was physically possible for me to do. I got stuck unable to move forward or backward... kicking my feet helplessly in the air, to the amusement of Michal below me.

A short (30 ft) scramble to the summit brought us to the unique and cool summit register, with the yellow ball containing the Incredible Hulk himself! After a bunch of photos we packed up and scrambled down the ridge. Finding the rappel anchor took a few minutes: when you reach the end of the ridge, go down and left until you see the bolts with slings. Although described as "3rd class", there were some tricky steps and extra care is required as it's exposed. A single rope rappel took us to the notch, and some talus slogging brought us to camp fairly quickly. Overall, great climb!

We found Rich in great spirits and feeling rejuvenated. It was very unfortunate that we couldn't do the climb together - I always have a blast climbing with him, from the day he took me on my first climb in Canada years ago. There will be more opportunities to go back though! We had a great meal, a nice night of sleep and descended the next morning. Camp to car took us 1 hour and 45 minutes of fast going.

	The Incredible Hulk on the approach	The Hulk from the approach, photo by Pavel	Rich cranking through the approach

	Amazing rock surrounds us	Early morning	The Incredible Hulk in the morning, before we started

	Pavel cranking on the start of the dihedral pitch (we had to move belay up)		Higher up, starting the real business

	Pavel looking down from a temporary belay in the dihedral (we moved the belay a bit here)	clean rock!!	the crux bulge is above (but it's not that hard)

	closer up of me and Michal belaying	nearing the 5.10 bulge	view across the valley

	looking down the valley	me coming up the dihedral pitch (we belayed high up)	me and Michal on a ledge somewhere up there

	me nearing the 5.10a splitter, photo by Michal	at the base of the beautiful splitter, photo by Michal	here I am past the beginning, which was the crux for me (finger locks with insecure feet)

	finally jamming!		still great jams

	pumped, but keep going	and finally, i have the lip at the top!!

	Michal looking happy after the 5.10a splitter pitch	The Shattered Pillar (bypassed on the left)

	Michal and Pavel on the comfy Shattered Pillar ledge		Battle wounds

	Michal starting the next pitch (5.9)

	myself belaying and enjoying the day	the face to the right of the climb	left of our climb: Positive Vibrations is the arete

	looks hard!		Michal on the last short pitch before the top

		Dealing with the 5.9 bulge move

	Looking down from the top of the ridge: zoomed in, you can see our yellow tent!	6 times zoom showing our campsite :)	Nice lakes

	Michal dispatched the bulge and now is almost on top of the ridge	Another "looking down" shot

	The 3rd class ledge traverse to the two final summit pitches	The 5.8 chimney/crack	Pavel on top of the keyhole squeeze-through

		Michal nearing the squeeze	It's tight!

	and re-birth!	Triumph with the summit "Incredible Hulk ball"	Happy 35th birthday, Pavel!

	me on the summit	the tent is somewhere down there	It's my turn for the hero shot

	And Pavel gets his turn	Me and Pavel on the summit

	Tricky chockstone in the descent gully	The ugly descent

	Close-up of the Red Dihedral	The majority of the climb visible	View of the formation from camp

	Weird bridge rock stuck there		The climb in sunset light

	Nice place...	Michal hiked up to the lake in the morning, before we left	the gang in camp, photo by Michal

	Time to haul the packs out the next morning	Looking back up the valley we came from, on the hike out