Virgin Islands Area  Photos:  Recent | Best | Popular Elevation:  4,000' Lat, Long:  33.9462, -116.0766 Map Page Views:  50,693. Good page?    Administrators:  C Miller, Adam Stackhouse, M.Morley, Sam Vanderhyden, Tom Erickson Submitted By:  C Miller on Jul 29, 2002 Make this area a Favorite What's New  Printer View Add Area  Add Photo  Add Comment  Add Event

Darshan on Cedric's Deep Sea Fish Market. Photo by...

Description 

The Virgin Islands, despite it's ease of accessibilty, remains one of the quieter and less frequented climbing areas in the Park. The crowds are fewer here and the solitude, especially away from the road, is quite noticable. The first documented climbing was done here in the early 1980's by the ubiquitous Tony Yaniro and Vaino Kodas who climbed the bulk of the best crack lines. Since then a number of quality crack and face climbs have been done with limited development continuing to this day.

Some of the recommended cracks here include the fairly enjoyable wide to hands crack of Thumbs Down Left (5.9), Light Sabre (5.10b) with it's clean corner and exposed crack higher, Between a Rock and a Hard Place (5.10b) for those seeking a full body workout, Cedric's Deep Sea Fish Market (5.10d) a tricky thin crack, Perpetual Motion (5.10d) a steep hand crack, Centurion (5.10d) for those whose like it wide and Human Sacrifice (5.11c) for those who want to step it up a notch.

A sampling of recommended face routes include the relatively unknown Hodad Arete (5.10b), the sandbagged Raker's Blaring Hat Rack (5.10d) which climbs a free-standing spire, Hot Lava (5.11a) with it's delicate arete moves, the somewhat obscure Walking on the Moon (5.12a), Rapture of the Steep (5.12b) with it's steep face goodness, the overhanging arete of Dictators of Anarchy (5.12c) and the continuously difficult and excellent New World Order (5.13b A0).

Getting There 

The Virgin Isles are reached by drving down the Geology Tour Road about 4.2 miles and parking in any of several pullouts along the side of the road. The formations are easily visible from the road and hiking times vary from 5-20 minutes with some scrambling typical. Take care if driving a 2WD vehicle to park pointing downhill. Should you get stuck you can continue driving further down the road to a turnabout at Squaw Tank (1.1 miles down the road) which has a large area suitable for turning around.

The Classics

Featured Route For Virgin Islands Area

Between a Rock and a Hard Place 5.10b  CA : Joshua Tree National Park : ... : Star Wars Rock

This leaning, almost bombay squeeze chimney is great entertainment for climbers and spectators alike. If you go with the proper side in, the crux is a few feet below where it turns the lip onto the vertical face. Good squeeze technique will see you through the crux, then you're into the fists and soon onto the face where the crack is low angle & easy. If setting a TR on this, be prepared with a good length of static line, you'll want to extend the anchor quite a ways below the top due to a rope...[more]   Browse More Classics in CA

Photos of Virgin Islands Area Slideshow

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Chemehuevi grinding holes, Joshua Tree NP.	Rock art. Photo by Blitzo.	Looking down the Geology Road, Joshua Tree NP
A sudden downpour near the Virgin Islands, Joshua ...	Virgin Islands. Photo by Blitzo.	Virgin Isles from the south, Joshua Tree NP