Saddle Rocks - Skirt   Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Elevation:  4,500' Lat, Long:  33.9943, -116.1403 Map Page Views:  75,972. Good page?    Administrators:  C Miller, Adam Stackhouse, M.Morley, Sam Vanderhyden, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  C Miller on Jan 20, 2010 Make this area a Favorite What's New  Printer View Add Area  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event  Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 95° | 68° 93° | 61° 88° | 64° 90° | 61° 90° | 54°

Saddle Rocks - Skirt, Joshua Tree NP

Description 

The massive lower portion of Saddle Rocks, easily identified by it's slabby west face, is called The Skirt and is home to numerous quality routes from 5.5 to 5.13a on it's north, west and south faces with climbs as long as three pitches making it one of the few places in the Park to offer multi-pitch climbing.

Face climbing is the name of the game here, although a number of cracks are available, and for the slab climber offers a treasure trove of quality multi-pitch routes in the 5.10 to 5.12 range which seldom see traffic.

Popular classics such as Right On (5.5), Walk on the Wild Side (5.8) see the bulk of the traffic however newer routes such as Santa Cruz (5.10a), Harley Queen (5.10c) and Where Have all the Cowboys Gone (5.10d) are slowly seeing more ascents as word spreads which helps to spread out the traffic somewhat.

Getting There 

Hike the signed access trail to the base of the rock and then head either left or right depending upon where your climb of choice is located.

The Classics

Featured Route For Saddle Rocks - Skirt

Where Have all the Cowboys Gone 5.10d  CA : Joshua Tree National Park : ... : Saddle Rocks - Skirt (West...

A modern Gaines classic. Hard to believe he's still finding such gems in a "climbed out" area like Josh.P1- climb a hand crack in a slab (5.8) about 30' down (closer to the road) from the Iconoclast arete. Belay on a big ledge.P2- Make steep face moves on incredible varnish straight up past 4-5 bolts (5.10+). After 50' or so the bolts wander left, and the rock becomes less steep and more frictiony. Make engaging slab moves straight up past several more bolts (5.10). Belay on another ledge. ...[more]   Browse More Classics in CA

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BETA PHOTO: Saddle Rocks, Joshua Tree NP

Coming down for the day I saw this unknown climber...