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TR The Iliad (16), Sublime Point, Blue Mtns 2-Dec-2013 At 10:53:08 AM PThomson

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Hey Macca,

I'll be interested to hear what you think of the grade if you (or someone else) repeats it. I was hesitant to give it 23, but I just can't imagine having worked so damn hard on any other trad 21/22s I've done, especially for something so short. Also, the gear -though not particularly hard to place with well-established technical stances- does require a certain precision to make it fall-worthy from the top of the crux.

The consideration, however, is that the top part of the crack was quite slimey (it had green slime at the back of it, which made my hands green every time I took them out. If the crack ever actually dries out properly, it is probably easier with better friction.

I found the crucial crux footer on it to be incredibly slippery, and most of my falls were from my foot just randomly slipping off the footer and sending my flying. My belayer got used to hearing a sudden: "S#!t, I'm off!"... *metallic crash as I fall on my wire-nest again*...

I had a look at the corner crack right of Trojan (the line you're talking about, I think), and kind of thought "surely it must have been climbed already". It could make an interesting trad continuation to the first pitch of Cynics United (which also goes on gear, and in a similar style).

Regards,

-Paul