This is a reasonably fun route and totally worth doing, but the shortness and the big Nolina that you have to climb past (not painful or overly awkward) in the crack do detract from it. Were it not for that it would deserve a star or two. Around and left 75' from Jack of Hearts is this arching finger crack behind a flake. Where the flake ends a bolt protects a couple of steep friction moves (5.9). Downclimb left (mildly exposed 4th class) or scramble right (very exposed but easier 3rd class) to the rappel station atop Jack of Hearts / Ace of Spades.
Protection
Several pieces in the .75-1.25" range as well as a handful of larger and smaller pieces. One bolt at the top.
By Mike Morley Administrator From: Oakland, CA Mar 10, 2003
Okay, I was curious: A "Nolina" is a small genus of Agave relatives native mostly from southwestern USA and Mexico. They have rosettes with hundreds of leaves, either stemless or at the top of a woody trunk up to 15 feet tall (4.5 m). Nolinas are xerophytes, generally not considered succulents.
Nolinas are dioecious (there are male and female plants). They produce large quantities of tiny cream-colored flowers on a paniculate inflorescence. Flowers are followed by tiny 2 or 3-seeded fruit that open and drop their seeds when ripe. Nolina do not die after blooming like Agave would.
All Nolinas tolerate at least 20_F (-7_C) and often much colder temperatures.
They're very similar in appearance to the Sotol's of Hueco Tanks or the various Yucca species of socal (among which the Joshua Trees, Yucca brevifolia, are included), and are all reasonably closely related being in the Agavaceae Family. Family Agavaceae is in turn in Order Liliopsida, the Lillies...
Sorry for being a geek, my mother is a botanist :)
White Cliffs of Dover
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