<p>Rock mass behavior under sustained loading at the edge of slope for discontinuous joints is difficult to assess under unconfined condition. The current study is conducted on rock mass with orthogonal joint sets with one continuous and other discontinuous joint. Rock mass joint sets angles varies from 30° to 90° with the increment of 15° up to 90°. Experimentation shows failure pattern as well as load carrying capacity in such conditions. Mode of failure is the most essential parameter which governs the load carrying capacity of the rock mass specimen. The load intensities were calculated analytically for joint angles of 90°, 75°, and 60° using Euler’s method, resulting in percentage errors with experimental results of 7.93%, 6.92%, and 8.45%, respectively. However, for the joint angle of 45°, which exhibited a sliding mode of failure, the analytically calculated load intensity showed a higher percentage error of 19.7% though the difference in experimental and calculated load intensity was 0.073&#xa0;MPa only. Load intensities were also calculated by shifting the footing position 150&#xa0;mm which is equal to the footing width (1B) from the crown of the slope. The increase in the experimental load intensity of at 1B is utilized for the evaluation of equivalent confining pressure (<i>σ</i>_3EQ). The values of the equivalent confining pressure constant can be used to predict the load intensity in the field when the footing is placed at a certain distance from the edge of the slope. Based on the experimental and analytical results, a methodology has been recommended to evaluate the load intensity at failure for a anisotropic rock mass. Experimental simulation is also done on the tool Phase2, to assess the mode of failure at failure load.</p>