Pioneer Route II 5.7 C1

This was my first trip to Smith Rocks I was in the area for a wedding and had no partners to climb with so I chose to do a solo ascent of the Pioneer Route on Monkeys Face.
At The base of The Route I ran into a father son team Tom and Dave also doing Pioneer Route. For fear that they would Be Slow They were kind enough to let me pass them and climb ahead.

Pitch 1 was pretty strait forward some easy crack climbing to easy face with bolts to a big ledge called Bohn Street.

Pitch 2 the overhanging bolt ladder was the crux of the route I heard one of the bolts was missing but I really couldn't tell nor did I see any sign of a pulled bolt. There were a few reaches but I never had to top step my aiders.

To Save time Tom and Dave popped my directional knot for my solo belay and used my draws to climb pitch 2 witch saved me a lot of work also.

Pitch 3 the "panic point" pitch was very short with huge bucket holds after the step out of the monkeys mouth the panic is over and the fun climbing begins.
Pitch 4 was easy 5.5 I didn't place any protection.




There were 2 Rappels off. The first one was easy The second Very exposed and free hanging.



Overall a fun day and a good intro to Smith Rocks.