That night we drove to Bridgeport and on Sunday we wanted to ski up to the Incredible Hulk and possibly check out one of the couloirs to ski. The Hulk is possibly my favorite place I have ever been, perhaps the only competition is the Bugaboos in Canada - the climbing there is amazing, and the setting/views unbeatable. Since this winter season is really abysmal as far as snow coverage goes, the entire trail following Robinson Creek was bone dry.. literally in the whole 2-mile stretch there were a couple of tiny (200ft) patches of snow to cross. We walked in our running shoes as a result, and with the sun beating down on us, you could hardly tell it wasn't summer. I'm pretty sure I saw a couple of mosquitos already!?

After the approach went by, we crossed the creek in the same place as the summer trail does (over a couple of fallen trees) and boot packed up to the shoulder through some old avalanche debris which made for easy travel. After a couple of dry patches were circumvented, it was smooth skinning all the way to the base of the Hulk... so much faster and easier than in the summer (when it's a giant talus field)! The views and atmosphere of Little Slide Canyon are just out of this world. It's so nice to have complete solitude as well (we were the only ones in the whole valley on Sunday), unlike the busy summer months when the place is crawling with people.

The couloirs were looking sad... the right hand couloir had a dry patch and both had lots of rocks showing - definitely skiable, but not the glorious conditions we hoped for - next time. We also had a bit of a late start and general lack of motivation given what we saw - so after a snack break, down we went! Skiing down was great spring corn snow, fantastic conditions, fast and fun! So much better than the summer time boulder hoping with a full pack and tired legs... :) It was hard to make the day better but we tried: we went to the Buckeye Hot Springs a short 15-minute drive away, and found them completely devoid of people as well... they are quite remote and the setting / being part of the river (Robinson Creek) is spectacular.

A quick 1-hour stint in Lee Vining rounded up the weekend to climb a bit of ice (sadly the Main Wall had fallen apart in the warm temperatures).

	Skinning up near Kirkwood	This place is getting tracked out like the resort :)	Very few tracks here - time to add ours :)

	Skinning up		spring skiing is fun!

	Upper Twin Lake is amazing

	Ready to roll!

	Where is the snow!?

			Main Wall (left) and Chouinard Wall (right)

	Bard Harrington - bone dry	Close up of Main Wall. The start was too sketchy...	Tioga Pass clearing - trucks were working on moving rock debris out of the way..

	Caveman on Main Wall - I wanted to climb it, but sanity prevailed	Chouinard Wall will provide a quick lap