The Red Dihedral is one of the classic great hard climbs of the Sierra Nevada. The peak is a huge cleaver of pure white granite split by numerous crack systems that recalls Yosemite Valley rather than the typical high Sierra. The cruxes are crack climbing rather than face and as such require technique rather than brute strength.

The first ascent of this route was by three 1970s Yosemite, Dale Bard, Bob Locke and Mike Farrell. They originally named the route Ygdrasil after the mythic ash tree of Norse mythology. But it has since become best known as the Red Dihedral – probably because no one could spell or pronounce Ygdrasil.

We also combine this route along with The Third Pillar of Dana into our Third Hulk Linkup giving two of the best hard climbs in the Eastern Sierra in three days.

Itinerary
Day One: We will meet in Bridgeport, do a thorough pack and equipment check and distribute group gear before packing up and heading for Twin.

The approach starts off in the campground at Twin Lakes, a weird little place with lots of signs saying “Do Not….” But we leave all this quickly behind and take the well-maintained Barney Lake Trail for about an hour or so.

We then enter the dreaded beaver swamp but after having done this enough we know the best way around the swamp, but during early season peak flow it can still be an issue and we some times take a spare pair of shoes for the crossing. From here there is a climbers trail that comes and goes but gains the less than 2,000 feet to the base of the Hulk. The last bit of the approach involves some irritating talus and brush but considering it's less than four hours from the car to camp we're doing ok. Camp is a beautifully flat sandy platform barely 20 minutes from the start of the climbing. Water can sometimes be an issue here so for late season falls we need to camp a little lower.

Day Two: This is going to be a big day so we start early. The first few pitches are always in the shade so we dress warmly. Things start easily with some 4th class with a few hard moves. But the angle steepens and the hard moves get closer together and we get into 5.9 terrain and small stances. The crux is pitch four – the Red Dihedral pitch. The first 100 feet are sustained 5.9 with nothing harder - and nothing easier. One foot jammed in the crack, the other smeared out on the face or searching for small face holds. The crux comes just before the belay and involves a long reach to a good hold. The hard part is getting the feet high enough to make the move. A reach to the right, pull up and suddenly it is 5.7 to the belay and you barely have time to get too pumped and worked up about it all.

By now we should be in the sun and warming up. We encounter great cracks with good ledges and resting places as we continue up to the summit ridge.

But we are not done yet and after an easy 3rd class traverse we have a grainy 5.8 pitch and then a tight chimney to squeeze through just below the summit. The summit it's self is a perfect pointed block with barely enough room to sit. Open the summit register and there is even an “Incredible Hulk” superball.

The descent takes us down the south ridge via one long rappel and then we downclimb a gully and talus back to the base and our gear. We generally do the descent in our rock shoes to avoid carrying an extra pair of boots up the route. A little pain in the toes to be sure, but it is over quickly.

Notes

The best guidebooks are Supertopo's “High Sierra Climbing” by Chris McNamara. and Peter Croft's “The Good, The Great, and the Awesome”.
Get them from Maximus Press.

We highly recommend that you spend at least one night at moderate altitude (higher than 8,000') just prior to the trip. Spending a night in Mammoth or camped in the Bridgeport area would do the trick. Please refer to our Planning for Success info sheet for more info.

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