The Red Dihedral route is named after the giant dihedral comprising the entire fourth pitch. This route is the most moderate classic route on the Incredible Hulk, but still sustained and challenging (only one pitch is easier than 5.8). The rock is perfect, clean, golden granite. It is not surprising that the Red Dihedral route is extremely popular; on a summer Saturday, there can be several parties lined up at the base.

The route can be done car-to-car in a (very long) day, but Mark and I climbed it camp-to-camp since Nic and I were planning on climbing Positive Vibrations the following day. The SuperTopo (ST) topo shows the Red Dihedral route as having 12 pitches, but we climbed the route in 8 long pitches by linking together Pitches 1 & 2, 5 & 6, 8 & 9, and 11 & 12. The first half of the climb is sustained and follows major crack systems. The second half ascends more broken rock on easier terrain with the occasional 5.8 or 5.9 section.

Below are some photos (and video) from my first climb up the Incredible Hulk. It was indeed incredible.

GoPro footage of Mark climbing The Red Dihedral. "5.9 hands, incredible and sustained." I am at the belay below taking the video.

According to some sources, Positive Vibrations is possibly the best rock climb in the High Sierra. It takes an incredible line up an exposed prow in the center of the face. The rock quality is exceptional and the climbing is unrelenting with the first eight pitches rated 5.10 or harder. There are two sections of 5.11a on the route: a devious but short boulder problem crux on Pitch 3 and a steep and tenuous section at the end of Pitch 6. Pitch 6 is definitely the endurance crux of the route, featuring unrelenting 5.10 moves all the way to the pumpy finish with the 5.11a crux. The climb has an even balance of finger and hand cracks with no wide sections. Because the route is harder than Red Dihedral, it tends to be less crowded. Nevertheless, the climbing is so good that there can be a lineup here as well. Since the upper pitches are extremely exposed to the wind, the SuperTopo guide notes it is probably not a good idea to climb this route when high winds are forecasted.

Positive Vibrations essentially ends on the summit ridge at the top of Pitch 8, even though this is not the actual summit of the Incredible Hulk. Unless you want to tag the summit (via a fourth class ridge scramble to the final two pitches of the Red Dihedral route), a great descent option is to rappel down the next-door Venturi Effect.

Below are some photos (and video) from my second climb up the Incredible Hulk. It was even more incredible than the first time up!

The Hulk is the kind of multipitch objective you can climb again and again. In the Summer of 2015, I spent much of my summer in the Sierra, and when my newfound climbing buddy Sarah Inwood expressed interest in climbing Red Dihedral car-to-car I was all in. She too had climbed Red Dihedral before, but several years ago.

We weren't pushing any car-to-car time agenda, just moving at a comfortable and efficient pace the whole day enjoying the views, the rock, and each other's company. Also, we climbed on a Tuesday, so there were only a few parties on each of the major routes on the Hulk, and everyone was spread out enough there seemed to be no back-ups on any routes. We swung leads and linked pitches (2-3, 5-6, 8-9-10 into 2, and 11-12) to climb the route in a total of 8 pitches (actually, I lied, we didn't link 5-6, but we meant to). In this style, we climbed the route car-to-car in a 15-hour no-headlights-needed push.

Sarah and I had a blast. Thanks Sarah for being an awesome partner! Below are some photos from the climb.

Approach (Twin Lakes to base of route): 2:45
Climb route (base to summit): 7:45
Descent (summit to base of route): 0:45
Hike out (base of route to Twin Lakes): 2:30

In late summer 2025, I spent a couple of weeks in the Eastern Sierra, and one of my main objectives was to climb some routes on the Incredible Hulk. The routes on my list were Sunspot Dihedral (5.11b), Trade Winds (5.11d), the Polish Route (5.10+), and Positive Vibrations (5.11a)—the last of which I had climbed before but was eager to repeat. Christian responded to my Mountain Project post looking for a Hulk partner. 

We ended up climbing Positive Vibrations. Since Christian hadn’t been on a route like this in a while, I offered to take the sharp end for the entire climb. Back in 2013, I hadn’t led much of the route, so I was especially excited to give it a full go this time. We climbed in fix-and-follow style, which gave me some good rest breaks at the belays (many of them were airy ledge perches with incredible exposure). The weather was perfect—calm, mild, and the “20% chance of thundershowers” never materialized.

I managed to onsight (after over a decade since climbing the route, onsightability restarts, right? =)) every pitch except for the very last move out of the second 11a crux, where the hero jug on the finishing ledge was just a couple of inches beyond my reach. With nearly 180 feet of rope out, I wasn’t too keen on taking a ride, so I gave myself a little boost off a cam to bump my hand up and latch it. From above I noticed there might have been a sidepull around the arete that could have worked instead. Overall, though, the route felt significantly more casual—and even more fun—than it had back in 2013.

There were four parties on the route in total. From what I could tell, two others were on Red Dihedral, and no one was on any of the other lines. Positive Vibrations is understandably popular—and for good reason.

For the descent, we rappelled the Venturi Effect line with a single 70m rope. Someday I’d love to go back for Venturi Effect (5.12c) itself, though it looks like a big step up from Positive Vibrations.

Next up (hopefully): Sunspot Dihedral.

Below are pitch-by-pitch photos and time stats from the day.

In late summer 2025, I spent a couple of weeks in the Eastern Sierra, with one of my main objectives being to climb some routes on the Incredible Hulk. On my list were Sunspot Dihedral (5.11b), Trade Winds (5.11d), the Polish Route (5.10+), and Positive Vibrations (5.11a)—the latter a repeat, but one I was excited to get back on. Lane responded to my Mountain Project post looking for a Hulk partner.

Lane and climbed together for two days. On the first day we tackled Free Radical (5.12b, 7p) on Regge Pole, across from the Hulk; on the second day we climbed Sunspot Dihedral (5.11b, 7p) on the Hulk itself. The order had originally been reversed, but a heavy rain the day before left the Hulk wet. Luckily, Regge Pole dried quickly, giving the Hulk a full day to dry out.

We climbed Sunspot Dihedral in a fix-and-follow style. I led the first four pitches (linking them into three), including the 5.10c traverse of Pitch 4, which was damp at the start but otherwise fine. Lane then took over for the 5.11a endurance Pitch 5 and the 5.11b crux Pitch 6, before I finished the route on Pitch 7. We rappelled via the Solar Flare anchors.

We had the entire route to ourselves—always a treat on the Hulk.

Another fantastic day up there. Huge thanks to Lane for joining!

Below are time stats and pitch-by-pitch photos from the climb.

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