The lower tier on Pilot knob is the longer of the two and holds several climbs, but these are lower quality in general than the top tier, perhaps suffering a lack of light that allows more lichen to grow there.  We used this route to access the superior, albeit shorter routes on the upper tier.

Climb up a somewhat dirty dank corner past a little tree into a crack system on the slab above.  Work up and right on a series of occasional cracks and flakes, following available gear and instinct, passing a shrub or two on their right sides before coming to a ledge with a large belay tree shared by Auto Pilot.  Belay here or continue to scramble up to the base of Tier 2, below

Stress Fracture

, where there are 2 belay bolts.

Crop Duster

Admiral's Club

Flight Simulator

Red Eye

Autopilot

Red Eye Dihedral

Cockpit

This is not a bad line, and despite the R rating in the book, it is not really runout anywhere, much less where it is hard.

Start from the ground into a shallow corner.  An optional 4" cam protects a high step right off of the ground.  Once above the cam, a bomber stopper placement can be had.  Get some underclings and pinches, and stand up to a good in-cut and clip the bolt.  Surmount the roof, diagonaling left as you do.  No runouts yet....

Move up and right into a series of flakes.  I placed 2 small Aliens (both OK) on a sling and then proceeded up and left to a very solid #2 Camalot and then a stopper and then the pin.  The pin can be backed up 16" higher with a green Alien if its age concerns you.  No runouts yet.

Make a few thin moves to get up and clip the bolt, barely above your gear, and then clip and go directly up (5.9) or right and then up (easier) to the 2-bolt anchor.  I don't believe that I ever went more than 10' without good gear, though some of the placements I found only after cleaning them out.

This route is good overall and is slightly easier than '

Auto Pilot

' but slightly headier.

Begin on lichen-covered rock left of the roof (see:

Autopilot

) and try to avoid the vegetation as you climb toward some opposing flakes.  Continue up, staying out of the

Cockpit

gash to the left, and toward the large tree at a large ledge.

This is a so-so climb that would be much improved with a good brushing.  It would be a 2-star route if it got cleaned up.  The moves are fun, particularly up top, but the name of the route is probably derived from the condition of the leader and belayer after getting some of the lichen in their eyes.

Start off on the far left end of the crag, up the slope just slightly. A left-facing flake with several horizontal cracks starts the line, which is lichen covered.

Start off on the flake, placing one piece behind it with a runner and then protecting with hand-sized cams in the horizontals.  Step up and right onto some feet and put small stoppers into the seam when the flake runs out.  Move up onto these and place a 2.5" cam in the flake up and left of the crack, for the crux moves (5.9). Place feet wisely, and use interesting hands to pop out to the left into solid hand jams and head on up to deep in-cuts and jug-handles to the top of the rock, protecting if you feel like you need more protection there (5.4).

The climb ends by a single bolt belay (grey camo hanger) or directional, just above.

Move over to climbers right to a rap station below

Stress Fracture

to retreat to the ground.

Begin below the large roof on the right side of the first tier of Pilot Knob. Look for a single bolt under the roof; clip that, pull the roof, move up toward a little tree and continue pretty much straight up past another two bolts and a piton. Anchors sit just below the smaller, further right of two trees on a nice ledge. You may top out just to the left of the anchors.

Variations:

A. Between the second and third bolts, skirt around left for a 5.9 line.

B. Traversing to the right just after the last bolt and clipping the final bolt of the adjacent route (Admiral's Club) adds some difficulty to the final sequence.

P1. To the right of the

Red Eye

flake is a dihedral. Enter that and proceed to its top stepping left to join

Red Eye

crux crack.

P2. At a ledge, move directly ahead to left- facing, broken corner crack. Climb this until it's possible to break right on a ramp with a crack. Take the ramp right to its top where you will find two bolts for a belay.

To descend, move right and up 10 feet to two bolt rap station with chains.

Follow the apparent, right-trending crevice up to the larger/more left tree at a large ledge.

As for the rest of the climbs on the lower tier, this one has lots of dirt, vegetation, and lichen, so watch those feet! Also, some of the flakes may pull off if you tug too hard (trust me on this one).

Description

Location

Protection

Routes in Lower Tier