Robbie Phillips has repeated James Taylor's 2021 route Prisoners of the Sun (E9 6c) on the Painted Wall at Rhoscolyn, North Wales. James initially suggested E10 7a, but a repeat in a day by Jim Pope in October 2021 led to a revision at E9 6c. 

Having worked the route alone, Robbie returned the following day to lead it but found that conditions were too poor. The next day, he arrived to find that conditions had unexpectedly improved despite overnight rain and appealed for a belayer via Instagram before finding a willing partner. 

Robbie initially agreed with Jim Pope's suggested downgrade to E8 after working the moves. He wrote:

'I said to James that it's probably on the cusp… E8/9 but I'd have to wait and see what it was like after leading it.'

The line involves a highball, bouldery start before a rest and a more sustained finish with minimal gear. Commenting on the grade breakdown, Robbie wrote:

'It's really tricky, because when I was on it, I always felt totally in control which for E9 I'd expect more resistance. For me the start crux is Font 7A+ (V7) and very serious (you don't want to fall). However, the holds are all incut and the style is quite basic so you can control every move. This changes the nature of the climb immensely as it reduces the chance of a slip. Afterwards it is very safe and maybe fr7b+/c following what was for me a really good rest - I knew I would never fall after doing the lower crux.'

Robbie acknowledged that his high endurance capabilities could skew his perception of the difficulty and highlighted the potential for a serious groundfall on the initial highball section. 

Summing up his thoughts, he wrote:

'You do get very hard very serious E8s, but I've not done any that have felt quite as bold at the start followed by harder climbing afterwards. I think "Prisoners" suits a climber with sport climbing fitness and a good head for bold climbing, which is why I think it felt OK for me and Jim. And lastly but arguably more importantly, grading for the onsight as all Trad should be done… that is for sure an E9 onsight proposition.'

Robbie's ascent of Prisoners is the fourth after James Taylor (UKC News), Jim Pope (UKC News) and James Pearson (UKC interview).

James Pearson did not comment directly on the grade, but told UKC: 

'The 'truth' - for want of a better word - is probably somewhere in the middle, but at the end of the day I try to look past all of this and just climb things that are cool. However, I would just like to point out - for the sake of the legs of any future ascensionists - that jumping off the bottom wall and landing on the grassy ledge seems like a really bad idea to me!'