PRINT: Rock Climb Wedlock, Joshua Tree National Park

Wedlock

5.11a, Trad, 50 ft (15 m),

Avg: 2.6 from 29 votes
FA: Tony Yaniro and Vaino Kodas, 1982
California > Joshua Tree NP > Pinto Basin > Split Rocks > Split Rocks West > Isles in the Sky > Hidden Corridor

Access Issue: Climbing Regulations/Seasonal Raptor Closures Details

The Joshua Tree National Park Superintendent's Compendium states that:
1. Vegetation is not allowed to be used as an anchor.
2. Only neutral or rock colored bolt hangers are allowed.

For a complete list of climbing rules and closures visit:
nps.gov/jotr/planyourvisit/…

Description

This is a short splitter finger crack. It ends on a large chockstone 50' off the deck.

Approach: scramble into the corridor behind Bird of Fire. Walk through this corridor and double back into a similar, parallel corridor behind it.

Protection

thin

Photos [Hide ALL Photos]

Mark Collar following the thin splitter of Wedlock 5.11a

Sweet corridor!

Leading up Wedlock inside the elevated Hidden Corridor way above the desert floor. Photo by Katarina.

Chockstone is cool but ends the route a little early.. would be cool to go directly up but there's no gear and even if there was you'd ledge out on the chockstone if you fell.

Tricky start

Scott using his feet and crushing.

Me on wedlock.

Comments [Hide ALL Comments]

Vernon Stiefel

Wedlock can also be approached by walking east around the Isles In The Sky formation on an established trail to the south side and scrambling over boulders up an east to west running gully into the corridor. Wedlock is an excellent finger crack climb on sound rock but I would give it 2 out of 3 stars because it is relatively short (3 out of 5 stars). Mar 25, 2003

Will S
Joshua Tree

5.11a

Fantastic splitter that inexplicably gets no stars in Vogel. A little short, but it is Josh, and there's no rambling "filler" it's all quality. Ends on the giant chockstone, while the logical ending would have been to go another 15ft up the now bottomed out pro-less "crack" to the top. There's no gear available after the chockstone though, and without placing a bolt in the last stretch it would have been exciting to say the least.

Unless you're already going to be at Bird of Fire or the Isles Corridor, approach as per Vern's directions above.

Great climbing, mostly fingers, but takes plentiful gear up to #1 camalot with emphasis in the .4 and .5 camalot size. At some point there were some "fixed" rap slings on chickenheads on the chockstone, those slings were laying at the base yesterday, so walk off/downclimb the skier's right side of the chockstone toward the smooth chocolate patina wall and into a sort of gulley/corridor formed by that wall and the chockstone. It leads directly back to the base of the route. Jan 25, 2009

snowey

Awesome Route and BEST RAPPEL AT JOSHUA TREE!!!

The scramble off the chockstone looked a bit sketchy so we simul-rappelled off either side of the chockstone. The chockstone is fully suspended so your rappel is completely free hanging.
If you are not comfortable with this technique, you can lower the first person and have them stay tied in and function as a counter weight while you rappel off the other side on a single strand. Apr 27, 2009

Daniel Melnyk
Covina

Pretty good for being so short. Moving onto the chock stone is fun. Used a BD green 0.75, red #1 and yellow #2 for the anchor. Also is blocked from the wind! Dec 13, 2018

Gumby boy king

No one says anything about the flaring nature of the crack here! I was expecting splitter locks and it turned out to be flaring at the Crux with delicate feet. Best to have someone follow here and continue to the top to rap off... Oct 31, 2019

Barrett Metza

Yeah, agreed with Gumby Boy on this one. Cool route in a great location, but it does seem to flare slightly the majority of the route which makes the locks not as solid as you'd like. Still fun and worth doing if in the area. The slings are back on the chickenheads on top of the chockstone with a quick link and a biner to rap as of 1/9/2022. Jan 9, 2022