Nine Gallon Buckets 

Good clean fun. Link everything in one great 35m pitch. Getting to the first bolt is balancy and committing, so be careful.

You can do both "pitches" easily on a 60m rope. Be sure to tie a knot on the belayer end, or better yet, have your belayer tie in to the rope.

Great Route, Even after the crux when it eases up, it is still blast.

Agree with all of the above statements. If you can climb to the first bolt you might as well take it to the third anchor because even if you fall up high you will not hit the ground

I think a comment needs to be made regarding the opening sequence of this route. Yesterday I was once again a witness to a sketchy and scary fall that occurred before the first bolt had been clipped.

The first 15 feet of this climb are fairly serious and poorly protected. Just because you can climb 5.9 does not mean that you will be comfortable getting to the first bolt. A stick-clip is highly recommended if you aren't totally solid and confident. This is bolted like an old-school climb, and if you've climbed 5.9s elsewhere you're probably going to be in for a surprise.

Many people will find this aggravating and frustrating, but do yourself (and your ankles) a favor by taking some precaution here.

Seems like Peters comment could be said about almost every route I got on at Smith. An alternative to the stick clip is wait until you are a solid 5.10+ climber then get on it. I watched a kid fall above the first or second bolt and miss the ground by two feet. Not sure why he came so close but it is a dangerous game and you need to be careful.

I also agree with Peter. Stick clip the first bolt as the hardest bit is getting off the ground and you really don't want to blow the opening moves. And, if you can climb 5.10 you MUST do the upper section. After grunting through the sidepull/undercling crux the climbing eases considerably, finishing on some of the coolest honeycomb pockets you will ever have the pleasure of sinking your meathooks into.

The first move of this route is the hardest, imho- after you reach the first hueco, its positive, but not over before the first bolt.

The upper crux is balancy and fun and well protected.

If you are climbing to the top anchors (3rd set), two notes: 1) a 60 meter rope is *just* enough to lower a climber; and 2) I would *not* recommend cleaning the whole route while lowering from the top anchors - this will result in a HUGE swing upon unclipping the lowest draw. We cleaned to the first set of anchors on lowering, then re-climbed the lower part to clean up to there.

I was climbing this route two weeks ago and pulled off a fist sized rock when I tried to use an obvious undercling near the crux. Thankfully nobody was directly below me.

A few days before I also saw someone pull off two decent sized rocks on the zebra wall.

I thought this was a really good reminder that even the most climbed areas at smith are susceptible to rockfall.

And yet out of the 15+ other people at the wall, no one was using a helmet.

Don't know about the debate on stick clipping, but if you are climbing at smith rock, then you know that you are climbing at smith rock. Climb to the bolt, clip it and move on. Even if it's 5.9 to the first bolt, the route is 10c so heads up... Look at the tags, climbing is dangerous. Whoops

solid smith rock 5.10, good route