Up The Slick Surface Of Heaven (variation on Achilles Heel) - Rattlesnake Mountain, CT (5.9+?)

This "filmstrip" shows many of the moves on a variation (from bottom to top) on Ken Nichols' Achilles' Heel (5.10-). The variation avoids the direct pull over the roof by a step right onto the "Down To Earth" corner, and uses that corner as an arete climb.

The route begins in the center of the clean, just-under-vertical face at the left end of the cliff. Straightforward but graceful face climbing moves on thin edges lead to tip of the six inch overlap that nearly bisects the face. Some interesting thin moves to the right bring you to the base of the block. From there, stay out of the crack in the dihedral, but use the face holds to bring you up into where the corner meets the face.

From there, traverse onto the corner and work your hands up. A toe hook may come in handy. Finally, reach for a fairly good hold above the small part of the roof and pull the rest of the way through.

Unfortunately, this variation has seldom been done, so the appropriate grade for the route remains in question.