Sonnie Trotter

Big Willy Style

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

So if you’re not a fan of Big Willy Stanhope, you will be soon. He’s one of the funnest and funniest stone monkeys around and he’s been fucking shit up since he was like 4 years old. Last night I got an email from him in Boulder, he just recently made an ascent of the mega classic, ‘Musta bin High’, 5.13c R in Eldorado, Canyon. Here’s what he wrote.

“Hey Sonnie

Just sent ‘Musta bin High’ today. So jacked! One very long week with exactly two days of climbable weather.
Took an enormous long bomb onto the nuts from the top of the route. Contemplated changing airline ticket, but decided to give it one last burn, semi-fatigued. Just buzzing right now… so amped.

Anyways, hope you’re getting some good weather in Squam.
Very proud to have entered the exclusive club of you, Segal and Decaria to have climbed it sans kneepad.

w.”

I think we can all relate to the feeling of wanting the good satisfaction of a proud send put behind us, something we’ve waited patiently to tick off that growing laundry list of classic climbs. I can sense the vibes Will must have been feeling last night, the high can be intoxicating, not that there isn’t room for a bottle of wine in celebration after the fact, but nonetheless intoxicating. Climbing is made up of these small moments of joy, pain, fear and excitement. When you’re out at the crag with your mates, and they want you to send as much as you do, and the pressure to leave town is hanging around your neck like a noose, and you’re cold and tired but you still want it. So you head up for that final burn, accepting the fact that you’re chances aren’t that good and you’ll probably fall off again, but you won’t be totally satisfied until you know for sure. And then it happens. You stop thinking about your friends, the cold, the fatigue and the flight to Patagonia and you start to connect with what you’re doing, you really start to focus, maybe for the first time in days, or weeks and you begin to climb the way we wish we always could, without a single distraction, as though we have finally connected to some sort of wild energy field unaccessible by the ordinary. I wish I could have been there, but I have my own Dragons to slay. Hopefully the skies will clear long enough for me to feel the heat of the fire breather.

Will trying to light his first cigarette on a trip to the Needles, CA. Not cool. Cory and I still feel bad for allowing Will to sample such a disgusting and unhealthy pastime and I do not support anyones choice to smoke, however, I am a man of many vices, grin, and the taste of fresh tobacco on a long drive into the mountains is something I long for from time to time. I’m far from perfect, I’ll admit. Meanwhile, Cory devours a whole pint of Ben and Jerry’s in the love seat of my van.

Will pointing the way to a dodgy bar in Horesham with cheap dancing girls and Victoria Bitter on tap. Note the tiny little ugly wall in the background, I think it’s called the Tai Chi Wall, or maybe something to do with Peter Pan? I dunno.

Stanhope wide awake at 6:45 am on an Alpine Push up the Bok. Only the three of us will remember this moment for what it really was.  Will took the sharp end and kept going…

Here’s a picture of me bridging between the two formations, I climbed to the top by squeezing the pillar all the way, it was stretchy and slick, but so much fun. This climb holds a lot of memories for me. When I made the second ascent, it was my first scary climb and I still wasn’t sure about the whole trad thing and what gear works and what doesn’t so the higher I got, the more concerned I was, but a part of me loved those emotions, it felt to me like what climbing should feel like. I know exactly what Will is talking about above.

A cool shot of Matt Wilder doing the upper section as well, both photo’s courtesy of Climbing Mag.

Matt Segal showing us a different angle of the climb. Its red and gold streaks make for not just a brilliant climb, but a psychedelic setting as well. If you’re ever in the area, go check it out, it’s a beautiful hike and there are dozens of world class climbs, from 5.9 to 5.13+. Read more about Will’s climbing exploits here. Big Willy.com

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WHSSSAP?

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Hey everyone,

So today the Squamish skies have cleared yet again, we’ll see if it gets dry enough to scramble up something later, I’m working on a cup of green tea and some English crumpets right now, you know with jam everything. Can’t have coffee and breaky burritos everyday. Or can we? Oh well, I’m getting jacked for the day, I think it’s going to be beautiful, and I’ll try and squeeze in a hangboard session as well at some point. But until then, I wanted to share with you a new video by my buddy Sean McColl. In Dec we went down to Hueco for a week and climbed some stuff. One of the prize picks was this line I saw, it looked improbable. I’ve done V12 and this looked harder than that, so I showed it to Sean right away. The next day I flew home and the day after that, Sean went back and dispatched what may be an upcoming classic. It’s hard to say if anyone has ever done it, the rock crumbled upon first inspection, there was no chalk and nobody we knew ever heard of it, so it’s a probable first ascent. Check out this video just posted, it’s quite good actually for a bouldering clip and it shows the progress well, from stage one through stage nine. Sean even had the consideration to give me props for the vision, he called it, Sunny Side Up. How sweet. He gave it V12, but I think it’s likely hard for the grade, either way – Nice work Sean and Jamie you too for a good filming job, you’re like a tripod man, steady as she goes. Hope to see you guys soon, maybe at the Edge where I can pretend to keep up.

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a tight conversation

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

First off, I can’t say enough how amazing it is to be surrounded by such an incredible community of like minded people, I love reading all the amazing comments and emails coming in. It’s inspiring for me and I’m learning so much more about climbing and life in general by interacting with everyone. Sometimes throwing out ideas and opinions leaves us wide open for judgement and assault, but it’s a risk we take, if we say nothing at all, we don’t get any feedback and we don’t learn or grow, or at least not as fast. So, thanks for all the feedback, please keep it coming, both the good and the bad, because really…it’s all good.

For many of you who visit this site regularly, you’ll know that we talk a fair bit about training and training for climbing. It’s all about the fingers, the fingers, the fingers, and of course, blood flow, opposition training, back and shoulders, biceps, diet and core. Not to mention the enormous muscle of the mind, but what about the feet? We hardly ever talk about the feet or shoes and the role they play.

Last week, I was out climbing with some friends and was heading up a classic 5.11a, when along came Robyn Barley, a retired MD who spends much of his time, scrubbing, cleaning, bolting and trying to maintain a climbers paradise. He bellowed up to me, “Sonnie, is that you up there? You know – that line to the left is a project eh? A few fellows have done all the moves, but nobody could do both cruxes, and certainly never link them. You should give it the once over.”

On my way down, I did just that.

To cut to the chase, the climb is going to be brilliant, a pure slab of about (pronounced aboot) four bolts, 35 feet of praying before gaining a bomber finger crack and eventually the summit. Very little finger strength is required, (except for the mono crimp at the end) so it should weigh in around 5.12d or 13a -ish. It’s one of the hardest slabs I’ve been on and very cool. So, when deciding what footwear to choose, naturally, I pulled on my beautiful new Anasazi Lace Ups.

These beaming beauties of white, black and gold (used to be pink, but now have a better heel and fresh new look) have gotten me to the top of many a desperate climb, in fact, I owe them all of my hardest climbs to date, I am nothing without my lace-ups. Nothing I say.

Here’s a picture of me doing the second ascent of ‘THE BLEEDING’ 5.14a, Mill Creek, Utah. One of the best routes of the grade in the whole country. I always wondered why it took ten years for a repeat. Noah Bigwood was (and still) is ahead of the curve. Anyway, we all know there are more climbs and climbers out there who owe a great deal of gratitude for these ‘top of the line’ performance enhancers, certainly I’m not the only one. But on this climb, on this day, they did nothing. As tight as they were.

I push, I slip.

I edge, I pop.

I grind, I skid.

I smear, I smudge.

The same result ensued, me hanging on the rope like a wet noodle feeling as though I just wimped out from my first 5.6. I wanted down. I was defeated. I had no self confidence left and in a spat of emotion I even blamed it on the climb. “I hate this thing” I muttered and spat into the dirt for effect.

On my second “once over” I pulled on my dirty old Mocs. You know the ones, they’re stretched, rounded and chewed up a bit, you keep them at the bottom of your pack, “just in case” and sometimes they’ve got a piece of duct tape on the toe. Yah, you know. They’re PERFECT for climbing dozens of 5.9 cracks on the Apron. But 5.12+ ? Not likely.

But before I could analyze the situ, I was halfway up the wall and reaching for a stance.  I eventually fell, got back on and linked it to the top. ” What the f__k”.   My big toe felt tired but strong.  What was it about the mocs that made me get so far? I won’t lie, I felt as though I was coming off on every single move, every insecure rock over, every crystal and bullet hole.  But somehow I didn’t (not until I flubbed the seq anyway). I linked my way to the top and was ready for the sharp end, but night fell on us and I’d have to return another day. With my mocs in the TOP of my bag this time.

Now, 9 of 10 roses, I would want my Lace Ups for a hard redpoint, (especially when there is a ground fall potential, I.E. this route) but here, it’s the mocs that will carry me to the anchor. Has anyone else had this realization before?  I mean ON their hardest of hard slabs?

It seems that sloppy shoes will work better because they provide that little bit of extra contact. The lace ups provide us with unrivaled support, but the mocs give us subtle sensitivity. Which do you prefer? I discovered here that while steep climbing is the study of sport physiology, fitness and endurance, slab climbing is the study of science friction, geometry and often times, blind faith.

Thanks for reading, as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on this… Is the era for tight shoes coming to an end?  Or is our sport just getting so specialized we need a bigger quiver?

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not too shabby

Monday, January 26th, 2009

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Sunny Days in January

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

For locals, it’s called Sunny Days in December, but not anymore, now we can include January too. It’s been almost two weeks of pure hot sun and there is more on the way. The best part about Squamish is the rock dries so damn fast, we can all be out climbing within half a day after a rain spell. Life is good now, and we need to appreciate that NOW, for the clouds will come back (they always do) and we’ll be back to the hangboards and woody’s and yoga mats. But this will keep our spirits high and carry us until the next dry spell in February and before long it will be March, the best sending temps on this planet. Today is like any other day, good music, rich coffee, then bacon and eggs at Big D’s on main street, half a dozen of us will rally up to the cliffs before noon and we’ll be in t-shirts pimpin down on finger locks and foot smears. It’s a great time of year to try the more obscure climbs, the ones in between the classics with all the traffic, and they’re just as much fun when you give them a good try. Take for example the 5.12- just to the right of “Climb and Punishment” soo goood.   I hope everyone is having a stellar new year so far.

This is me looking like a total douche bag, trying to get some UV rays on those pale shoulders of mine, at least I wasn’t the only douche with bad hair at the crag that day, but I’m not allowed to post “those other” pictures. bummer. The climb above is relatively unknown (an arms length from Piggys Perversions 5.8) and goes at about 5.11c – very scary arete slab climbing, I took my first leader fall of the year on this trying to clip, knocking off my own hand, (total punter move) and taking a ride that wrapped me around the blunt nose. I think it’s confidence building, you know, to get a whipper out of the way early in the season, a good program for the mind. Especially because it was unintended and sudden. Any jitters I had left the body after that, and I climbed with so much more rhythm.

This is a great angle of Crime of the Century, 5.11c. It really shows the texture, on days like these, I think it’s the best rock in the world, and dare I say it, even better than grit?

Chris Weldon here yesterday, trying to remind himself that he’s not just locking up a tasty crack, but he’s on a slab too, it takes a while to feel them both. I see a lot of climbers early in the season before they begin to trust their feet cranking hard off the hand jams and finger locks like they’re in the gym, only later to recall that they can get away with really good footwork and a strong BIG TOE. Climbing vert is more about balance than power.

Here Chris is trying to find that special piece of gear. Let me guess…a yellow alien perhaps? Any fan of Squamish climbing will know this is the CHOICE camming unit. It’s the “get me out of trouble” piece. When Chris plugged this little gadget in, there fell a sigh of relief over all the valley.

Here Weldon stretches it out to a bomber lock.

Andrew Boyd, sans shirt, making quick work of an area CLASSIC. Sunny Days in December 5.12b/c is a winter climb, an old Peter Croft special that still repels some valiant attempts to this day. Prepare to feel the funk. Oh and that special left hand undercling, well the thumbcatch broke (for those in the know) and it’s a wee smidgen harder now. Have fun up there.

I’m not sure what this is.

Lydia top-roping 5.11 slab. She should have been a ballerina the way she dances. I wish I had that sort of core strength. If you don’t think core helps on low angle (as well as the steeps), you don’t know yogis.

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Open discussion

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

So, like many, I recall very vividly the first time I was blown away by a child prodigy.  Chris Sharma had just climbed Surf Safari 5.13d/14a and I was working diligently on my 5.9 in the gym.  Mind you, he had been climbing for nearly two years already but still, I thought “Jesus, 5.14? “

Like most at that time, I thought 5.14 was reserved for those of Olympic strength and years and years of scientific training behind them.  It was Chris who first showed me what was possible at an early age.  And I believed.  What is it about Chris Sharma, was it that he trained harder? Or did he listen to his coach better?  Did he eat organic? What?  Me, I don’t think it’s hard to explain, Chris is just strong. He was built well for climbing with a grip strength to weight ratio that was higher than any other California climber at the time, he was already better than all of them, and a year later, he was the best in the country winning the Nationals Open category.

Today I am writing a short report about Sean McColl, one of the countries most talented free climbers.  Surely you’ve heard of him.  But as I was doing a bit of research, I stumbled upon this old clipping about his first 5.14a on www.planetfear.com – here is what it read…

“Ever heard of Sean McColl from Canada? If you hadn’t yet, then you have now, and you are likely to be hearing a lot more of him in the near future.  Sean started climbing three years ago, at the age of 10, and by the time he was 12 he´d already red pointed “Pulse” (at Cheakamus Canyon, Canada), weighing in at the magical grade of 5.14.a (8b+). Not content with stopping there, Sean’s notorious power and determination has recently seen him firmly stamp his mark on the world scene, by becoming the youngest person ever to climb an 8c.

Continued…Mike Orr’s route “Captain America” (5.14.b / 8c) is a link up of two existing routes, also at Cheakamus Canyon. Having already seen four ascents by “seasoned 5.14 climbers” the route is considered solid at the grade. Although Sean had climbed the two independent lines previously, it is still impressive to note that it took him only four tries, in two days, to send the link up of “Captain America”.  Sean plans for his future to encompass both outdoor climbing as well as indoor competitions. He is also proud to have reached Grade 8 on the Piano.  Where do you get fingers like that from?”

OKAY, so then further down, I noticed this….

“Adam Ondra, from the Czech Republic, also looks on course to turn a few heads over the coming years if he keeps things up at this rate! Having already on sighted half a dozen 7c’s over the past few months, Adam has now added an impressive on sight of “JSFK” (7c+) at Misja Pec. Climbing at that level would be pretty impressive by anyone’s standards but, amazingly, Adam is still only 9 years old!     Not only an on-sight climber, Adam recently red pointed “Funky shit”, at “Paklenica”, to join the prestigious group of elite climbers who have climbed the once magical grade of 8a.         It looks like a case of watch this space.”

And this space as we all know has erupted.  Adam Ondra is likely the best all around free climber in the World right now.  So this brings me to my question.  When a child prodigy is “discovered” for lack of a better word, is it because they want it more, because they train harder, or have better body awareness, or is just simply because their body allows them to be better than everyone else, they just are?  Maybe its rapid development, they have access to better cliffs, training facilities and coaches?  Sure, all climbers work hard and develop our skills over time and we hope to reach our potential, the way Chris has done with his new 5.15’s, but what about the early years,  I mean after only a few short years Chris was the best climber in North America, beating everyone who had twice the skills and twice the experience.  What is that?  How much of our sport (or sport in general) is based on genetics?   I read in a ski magazine that the average retirement age for a professional free skier is 25, and that’s OLD.   I invite you to join me in this discussion, I would love to hear other comments if you have any.

Where these climbers born strong or did they develop it?

| Posted in Climbing | 53 Comments »

Clark Shutdown

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

No, not Clark Mountain, but I got your attention right? That reminds me, I got an email from Ethan Pringle recently who said he’s pumped to get back up there and give that cave some big love next year. Soo coool. And on that note, I want to take this time as well to congratulate Dave Mac on his resent ascent of ‘The Walk of Life’ E9. An ascent of an E9 is usually not very newsworthy, but when its original grade was E12, well then perhaps it garners some attention. And attention it has. Climbing Mag, Climbing Narc, Climbing this and Climbing that have already sprung at the chance to report all the juicy details I’m sure, so I will spare you, but when it comes to this sort of experience, it’s always much better to get the report from the mouth of those standing on the summit. Check out Dave’s blog, he’s done a fantastic job with his write up.

Okay, so moving on to the Clark Shutdown, it’s 8:00 am and the coffee is just now starting to kick in. Wink.

Not all of you are going to know what Clark Foam is, so I will attempt to recap. Clark Foam, was founded in 1961 by a man named Gordon Grubby Clark. What Clark Foam did was manufacture and distribute foam surfboard blanks for shapers and carvers around the world. In fact, Clark grew to the point where they owned a monopoly on the market. They settled on rigid polyurethane as the material for their blanks and ran this business for decades.

However, all of this came to a screeching halt (literally) on December 5th, 2005 when Clark Foam abruptly stopped answering phone calls and emails. No one could reach them, they were cut off from the world overnight. Surfboard companies all over the world began to panic. When visitors went to headquarters all they found was a chained gate. Everything was locked and shut down. The reason for this unexpected closure was due to harassment by government agencies and eventual legalities issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency citing the materials too toxic for production.

Now imagine this. A premier surfboard manufacturer being shut down by the Environmental Protection Agency. Sounds to me like a paradox of sorts. Aren’t surfers supposed to be one with their environment?

Aren’t climbers as well? I mean, shit, aren’t all people and all businesses?

For those in the know, some of the same toxins that go into surfboards also go into climbing holds. A few years ago I looked into starting my own hold company, because I loved route setting and training for climbing and I thought it would be a great way to earn a living, until I looked into what goes into plastic holds; Silicone and rubber, polyurethane, paint, dye’s, casting, thickening agents, resin, catalysts, fiberglass, microfibers, not fun stuff…etc…etc… and I just couldn’t feel good about working with all these materials everyday. In fact, did you know that all the large hold companies now manufacture their products in China? And one company founder in Canada was forced to outsource his pouring due to a mysterious allergy to the ingredients? YIKES. I realized I would have to wear a rubber suit and an oxygen tank on my back to work with these materials.

But climbing is fun, surfing is fun. Surely something can be done.

Since Clark Foam shuttered, surfboard manufacturing has been inundated with new and innovative materials, such as carbon-fiber, hollow blanks, and new “Flex” materials used by other various companies. Also, there has been a small resurgence of wood. Wood shapers and wood riders are coming back to the sport they love and are realizing the joy of surfing is not just in the high tech materials or all the extra bells and whistles, it’s in the water, playing with the waves, the way it’s been done for hundreds of years.

So, check out one of my inspirational figures, Tom Wegener. This guy decided on a way of life that would work for him and he set out to make it happen. He now lives in Australia with wife and kids and shapes wooden surfboards for anyone who wants to buy them. Read a good interview here. He even makes some boards without any glassing at all called Alaia’s. And he’s not the only one, there are now a slew of wooden surfboard shapers around the world, from the boys in Maine called GRAIN, Timberline in California, even a guy here in Pemberton, BC builds boards for the cold coast. It’s amazing and I can’t help but get pulled into the worlds of so many amazing people working with their hands. When I see something that inspires me, I feel the need to share.

So, uh, yah, I just wanted to share that. Happy climbing or uh, surfing or whatever it is you do.

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and the world turns

Monday, January 5th, 2009

There is a stillness in the air that only winter can bring.  I look outside my door and all I see is white, a few window shutters across the street and the trunks of tall tress,  everything else is covered in snow.  Over the last two weeks Squamish has literally been smothered in the fluffy white powder, day after day after day large snow flakes like cotton balls danced gracefully to the ground, stacking up and leaving the towns people scratching our heads.  It never snows in Squamish and if it does, it never lasts.  I think this town has only one snow plow, nobody wants to drive, the roads are all a mess and the shopping sprees are over.  For Lydia and I it doesn’t matter anyway,  we have no car to drive.

This fall, we both bought bicycles to roll with.  But that doesn’t mean we don’t need a car, we still shared my van, (white lightening, ha ha ha) to take care of other such problems, like roadtripping to Skaha in Oct, or buying and transporting our new baseboard heaters,  or sometimes even to go out for a nice dinner.  But with all this snow, the road biking option is out – and now, so is the van.

When I heard that terrible sound the second time, my head hit the steering wheel and my hand hit the dashboard.  I hit it a few times actually, the radio even came on but I managed to hold back the tears.  Lydia stood outside next to the small pile of luggage we had brought home from Ontario over the holidays, she could feel my pain.  The sky was black, the night was cold and my van had died peacefully in it’s sleep.   We took a shuttle back to the airport and made it home safely around 9pm via the bus.  It was a sad day and white lightening will be sorely missed.

cory richards foto

So, as I am sure you’re all well aware of by now, the American Car Industry has been teetering on a slippery slope for the last 4 years and recently it has been announced that the government will bail them out again and try to save what is left of the once mega powerhouse that is General Motors.  One of the ways that GM got into trouble was that they were leasing cars left right and center, now there is nothing wrong with leasing vehicles,  it’s a great way for many parties to be happy and great on tax breaks if you are self employed, but only if the car is still worth something after the lease is up.  That’s the difference between a well built machine and a not so well built machine.  It’s like the difference between Patagonia and say Columbia.  A patagonia fleece jacket will last you for decades.  So when people realize that they owe more on their American car than it is actually worth, they get frustrated,  people drop off their leased vehicles and nobody wants to buy them, not even the previous party.  GM gets stuck with thousands of vehicles they can’t move, and thus they get stuck with enormous debt.  The record being a $38.7 Billion dollar net loss for 2007.

My GM van was good to me,  it kept me satisfied and took me all over North America many, many times, from NY to LA from LA to Colorado, From Colorado to Mexico, from Mex to Squamish from Squamish to Toronto and back again, and again and again.  But it cost me on fuel and in repairs, something or another was always on the fritz and to be honest, I’m surprised it lasted me as long as it did.  But I have no complaints. I sold it to a wreckers and they will recycle it.

But this whole situation we are dealing with is to be expected.  If you make something cheap, if you make it ugly, if you make it without care or attention to detail, if you make it more for profit and less to satisfy the needs of a customer, you will fail.  It is the people who decide, and that’s only fair.

As the fresh snow keeps falling outside and the economy keeps changing, hitting us with little surprises both good and bad, it makes me ponder the new season quickly approaching us, and I’m left with nothing but a glass half full.  I feel a transformation coming.  I think people are tired of the way things are, the things that aren’t working.  I think people feel this world is a little bit fragmented, disjointed at times.  This coming apart feeling all starts within ourselves and our communities and our nutrition.  I think we are on the verge of something bigger and sweeter than we know,  and I think people are getting ready to unite.  We need to embrace this transformation, lead it, celebrate it.   Make no mistake, these small actions will spread, as does every action.   We have seen the decay that takes place when important issues are neglected, even within ourselves, our own bodies and our own health and fitness – and these matters are no longer beyond our control.   We now understand how it all works and we have the power to change everything.  I think I’ll start with 50 push ups and a glass of water.

Here is to a great new year everyone.  With big smiles from he west coast.

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