Doug's Roof

If you like crack climbing so much that you have come to the realization that roof cracks are the ultimate, but you lament your roofcrackless life in the Commonwealth, take solace. Doug's Roof is here for you.

The problem begins on a juggy rail which you will traverse to the base of the crack. Suss your initial jam sequence, and head out into the horizontal realm. Feet on the rail will help get you started but, unless you're Wilt Chamberlain, won't get you through. As usual, the crux is turning the lip, and this move on Doug's certainly is demanding. A lockoff on your last roof jam leads into a desperate punch for a wide and insecure hand jam from which you must cut and raise your feet for the tenuous topout.

The beauty of Doug's Roof is that, for most mortals, this problem will start as a project but will eventually become something you visit to do training laps.

Begin your approach as for Redrock, with the storage facility on your right. Just past the storage units bushwhack a bit to get on the aqueduct and its accompanying trail. DO NOT CUT THROUGH THE STORAGE FACILITY. This is private. They have cameras and have threatened climbers with trespassing charges. DO NOT ENDANGER OUR ACCESS merely for the sake of cutting off a few hundred yards of trees.

Here's where it gets tricky. Two hundred yards or so up the aqueduct trail there will be a very faint trail departing to the right, usually and hopefully still marked with a cairn. If you crest the hill on the aqueduct, you've gone too far. Keep with this trail for 1/2 mile or so. You will pass the behemoth, intimidating and otherwise unmistakable Kong Boulder. Keep heading up the hill to the right, making your way up trail-less terrain through several ledges of rock. Up there somewhere, with a few wrong turns no doubt, you will find Doug's Roof. Have fun.

A pad will do. Don't even really need a spotter.