Jolly Roger

The Jolly Roger is a fun climb with a great crack system. Start the climb by surmounting a 5 foot slab. Once on top of the slab climb the flat face with a series of cracks in it. The bottom of the face has a slight overhang, but it becomes vertical and then less than vertical as you climb higher. Use some fist jams and finger locks to get up this crack. The crux is near the middle of the climb in a smooth blank niche that requires a less-than-sure foot smear.

To get to the top of the Jolly Roger, hike along the East Bluff Trail and take the short scenic trail that dips down to the famous Devil's Doorway formation. There is a staircase that passes between two short walls of rock at the east end of this short trail. If you walk down these stairs you will see an outcropping straight ahead. Walk out onto the rock platform, and Jolly Roger faces southwest off the pinnacle below the east end of the platform.  

 To get to the bottom of the climb from here, walk back up the stairs discussed earlier and take a right (east) down the slope through the woods (before you get back to the main Devil's Doorway Trail).  This is the gully that sits between the Major Mass and Minor Mass. Hug the rock on your right and pass right (south) through the third "saddle" you see. Go through the saddle and turn right again (west) with the rock still to your right.  You are now on the ledge that separates the Upper and Lower bands of the Major Mass.  In Swartling's book on diagram 33E, page 141, you are standing somewhere between the words "Access" and "Angel's Traverse".  Scramble west about 100 feet until you get to the base of the climb.

Standard Rack