When Ben Horne’s friend and climbing partner, Konstantin Stoletov, approached him with the idea of attempting a winter ascent of the Evolution Traverse, widely known as one of the most challenging — and most fun — climbs in the Sierra, Horne did what any experienced climber would do: he went out and familiarized himself with the route. His reaction upon his initial experience with the Traverse? “I was not convinced it was feasible,” he said. Nevertheless, Horne was willing to make an attempt on the nine-peak route, with Stoletov and fellow climbing partner Shay Har-Noy — all three are part of the informal climbing crew, “Pullharder” — in tow. The impetus of the trip was the glory that comes with a winter ascent, the second most highly regarded accomplishment when it comes to scaling the world’s challenging ranges, Horne said. Climber Peter Croft completed the first-ever ascent — “what matters most,” when it comes to climbing, Horne said — of Evolution Traverse in the late 1990s, and since Croft is one of Horne’s “biggest role models,” the challenge took on special meaning for him. It wasn’t just bragging rights, however, that pushed the team through eight miles and nine 13,000-foot peaks. “We really like climbing in winter because a lot of the routes in summer are high in elevation, but the conditions are not like mountain conditions,” Horne said. “There aren’t many glaciers in California, so in winter, it feels a lot more like the great ranges in other parts of the world, as opposed to just rock climbing. The routes in winter give you more of a sense of accomplishment.” Horne, a La Jolla Shores resident and graduate student at UC San Diego, said the group’s accomplishment is made all the more noteworthy due to the fact that none of them are professional climbers. Stoletov and Har-Noy, a UCSD faculty member and UCSD graduate student, respectively, both have professional lives outside of climbing, as does Horne. “This isn’t my life,” Horne said. “We’re regular guys, not professional climbers. I’m a grad student and my primary interest is work. Climbing is a strong hobby, but a hobby nonetheless. I think that’s what’s most notable about our achievement — [climbing] is not our life.” Be that as it may, climbing was certainly their lives for the seven days — four on the actual route — the group spent on the range. They slept in a two-person tent (“I’m a big guy, so that wasn’t very fun for me,” Horne said), ate sparsely, and endured sub-zero temperatures and blasting winds — all of which, it turns out, was expected and well worth the trouble. “There’s a spiritual component to being out there,” Horne said. “You feel very close to nature. And in the end, everything went as perfectly as possible for such a difficult challenge.” Quick facts • The Evolution Traverse — The range connects nine peaks, all higher than 13,000 feet and all named after contributors to evolutionary theory. • Challenges — The biggest challenge was?staying positive. “It’s very easy to quit,” Horne said. “You’re cold, you want to go down, something bad happens, something seems dangerous. Each of the four main climbing days we definitely wanted to quit. You just hope your partners don’t want to quit at same time.” • Keep laughing — One way they stayed positive was “Ducky,” the team’s fourth climbing partner. A rubber duck, Ducky served as the team’s cheerleader. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” Horne said. “We’re out there having fun, and Ducky was an extension of that.” • Physical effects — Horne estimated that each team member lost about eight pounds. Upon their return, their first meal consisted of four pizzas between the three of them. On the mountain… The group kept a log of their challenges along the way. Here’s a sample of what they endured (from pullharder.org): Day One: “The approach across 12900’ Lamarck Col took 12 hours and was windy due to the oncoming storm. Altitude was an issue for all … We bivied at the base of the route and ate lots of food for the last time for a while. We noticed that the rock rib to the left of the gully was clean from snow and might make a quicker way up the ridge in the morning. However, that was about to change.” Day Two: “Sustained 70-90 mph winds that ended up crippling, though not destroying, our tent as we decided to remain tentbound. A few inches of snow also fell, which would make climbing more difficult tomorrow.” Day Three: “There were still strong winds and extremely cold temps (-7F) but we started up the couloir at the beginning of the ridge in hopes it would subside. Though in the summer it is 4th class to the first peak, the snow on the route meant difficult climbing in crampons on the cold snow-covered rock on the ridge. … Six hours of frigid trudging, peppered with huge scary gusts of wind brought us to the top of Peak 13,360 (Mt. Gould). Denali temps in non-plastic Sierra boots meant Shay had to put Ben’s toes in his armpits to restore circulation.” Day Four: “Today saw better weather (a high of 25F!), which was essential as the routes cruxes to Mendel (peak #2) and the descent from Darwin (peak #3) and subsequent ridge were the most technically challenging elements of the trip.” Day Five: “We had more knife-edge traversing which included some scary simul-climbing falls on our 6-mil cord due to a broken hold and a pulled block. The entire group almost lost their frayed nerves entirely but psyche returned as we summited the rarely climbed, Peak 13,332 (#4), and perused the original 1964 summit register. A full 22 hours of climbing and two bivies had only gotten us through four peaks, but things began to speed up now as the terrain eased.” Day Six: “Our fourth day on the ridge saw increased wind and impending weather in addition to extremely slow climbing due to cumulative effects of altitude and the previous five days of high exertion and low caloric intake. … For a fourth straight day, morale hit low and we began to question our ability to complete the traverse. On the traverse to Huxley, the final peak, a car-engine sized block came off under Konstantin’s feet. … We topped out at 1:15 p.m. on March 10, after 35 hours cumulative climbing time on the ridge. Ben whooped. Shay hollered. Konstantin bellowed. Day Seven: “The morning was one of the windiest, and frozen boots didn’t help things. Breakfast was 1 Gu and 1 Vitamin-C packet between everyone. By the time we made it back to our food stash at the start of the route, our toes were almost numb again and no one had any energy, circulation, or blood sugar.”