- Edit (TBD)
Description
Looking southwest form the Gladie Visitor Center in he middle of the Red River Gorge you'll see Jewel Pinnacle. It is a distinct spire on the south side of the river. The route follows the crack that goes just right of the cat's nose and then between it's eyes to the summit. (NE side)
At the base of the pinnacle you'll know the route when you find the steep dihedral that seems to go all the way to the top.
The ultimate crux of the route is the mid section of the thankfully short first pitch. If it were cleaner the first pitch would be much cooler.
The intermediate belay is on a comfy ledge, but you can build a nice gear anchor in a horizontal and "hang" on it.
You'll need a #4 or #4.5 camalot for the start of the second pitch but other than that the gear is mostly mid sizes. Just bring plenty of duplicates.
You can rap from the goofy anchors of scramble down to the southwest and then rap from the vegetated ledge off to the east. Beware of copperheads near the rap.
There are now bolted anchors at the top of this climb that will get you all the way down with a 60M or 70M.