Mountain Project: Climbing Joshua Tree National Park

Submitted By: Mike Morley on Jun 17, 2002
Administrators: C Miller, Adam Stackhouse
Latitude: 34.0094 Longitude: -116.0558
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Description

Split Rocks is named for the large split rock (go figure) immediately north of the parking area. Please do not climb on Split Rock proper.

The two most popular areas in this part of the park are Future Games Rock and Isles In The Sky. Must-do routes here include the slightly overhanging Bird Of Fire (5.10a) and the unique Rubicon (5.10d). The Future Games Area has several nice lines, notably Invisibility Lessons (5.9), Continuum (5.8+), and The Bendix Claws (5.11a). The somewhat off-the-beaten-path Isles Corridor hosts a handful of fun cracks with not so memorable names, while the Cling or Fling Corridor offers a few cool steep sport routes.

Getting There

The Split Rocks Area is located just beyond Jumbo Rocks Campground along main road. Driving east, turn left (north) 1.2 miles past Jumbo, and park at the end of the cul-de-sac.

The Classics

Mountain Project's determination of some of the classic, most popular, highest rated routes for Split Rocks:

Dolphin 5.7 Trad, 1 pitch Isles In The Sky

Continuum 5.8+ Trad, 1 pitch Future Games Rock

Grounder 5.9 Trad, 1 pitch, 35 feet Isles Corridor

Blood and Cuts 5.9 Trad, 1 pitch, 50 feet West Tiers

Invisibility Lessons 5.9 Trad, 1 pitch, 80 feet Future Games Rock

Crack 5 5.9+ Trad, 1 pitch, 50 feet Isles Corridor

Bird of Fire 5.10a Trad, 1 pitch, 80 feet Isles In The Sky

Crack 6 5.10a Trad, 1 pitch, 50 feet Isles Corridor

Rubicon 5.10c Trad, 1 pitch, 100 feet Rubicon Formation

The Bendix Claws 5.11a Trad, 1 pitch, 80 feet Future Games Rock

Hang 'Em High 5.12a/b Trad, 1 pitch, 70 feet Future Games Rock

Games Without Frontiers 5.13a Trad, 1 pitch, 80 feet Future Games Rock

Featured Route For Split Rocks

Rubicon 5.10c CA : Joshua Tree National Park : ... : Rubicon Formation

This is my personal favorite 5.10 route in Josh. You can rappel with one 60 meter rope, but the route has at least 40 meters of climbing to it. The upper half of the climb is a sustained and exciting finger crack with excellent nut placements and lots of amazing edges for the feet. Think carefully about how you want to protect this route since placing gear along it's entire length would result in totally unbearable rope drag by the time the crux...[more] Browse More Classics in CA

Photos of Split Rocks

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Split Rock. Photo by Blitzo.	A cool looking boulder near Split Rock. Photo by B...	Claret Cup. Photo by Blitzo.
BETA PHOTO: Split Rocks Overhead	Future Games Rock, Frigid Tower and West Tiers. Ph...	Caterpillar in cocoon near Split Rocks, JTNP.
BETA PHOTO: View from the road	BETA PHOTO: Split Rocks Area from entirely different view

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