Sonnie Trotter

Second and Third

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

After looking at Mike Doyle’s hands on Friday, I think someone should change the name of Master Blaster, to Mister Blister. ha ha. But seriously Mike did an excellent job for a ’sport climber’, and call me crazy but I would even say he was having fun. Nice moves boy.

On Friday Myself, Mike and Lauren Lee went back out for another go on this inspiring Zion free route. Lauren looked by far the strongest and we all knew she had the best chance, but for me, I was beginning to think it wasn’t going to happen. On my first burn it hurt so bad I couldn’t focus on what I was doing, the swelling in my knuckles looked like raw steak. Mike and Lauren felt the same way, but they made good progress nonetheless. On her second try of the day (fourth overall) little Lee ignored the pain and jammed her mitts into the crack over and over until before she even knew it, she was dangling from the lip. A quick rest and another 20 feet of 5.12 brought her safely to the anchors, next year she’ll be teaching clinics on how to put on a proper tape glove, ha ha ha, the girl has got mad skills and she’s only now starting to unlock her potential, keep your eye on this space.

As for me, I FINALLY got my left ring lock to feel the way I wanted it to. I don’t know what it was, maybe it was watching Lauren, maybe it was watching Mike, maybe it was just ‘about time’, because up until that moment, the question of “IF” was still lingering long and hard. It could hold or it could slip, I felt I was at the mercy of a leprechaun, as though my performance was based on a stroke of luck and nothing more. I wrapped my knuckles and squeezed my thumb, the lock held, my feet stuck, and I jumped for the final pot of gold with a big grin on my face. It was 6 seconds of joy.

Mike had two good burns as well, but never managed to link the climb. To this day he can’t figure out if it’s the size of the crack OR his relatively low pain tolerance that kept him from the top, it certainly wasn’t a lack of strength or endurance or stamina or technique or desire or passion, so what was it then? He’ll be back one day, I know he will.

Details: It’s funny, because I spent last Saturday and Sunday teaching crack climbing techniques at the Red Rock Rendezvous and when the topic of the dreaded ‘Ring Lock’ came up, I simply told everyone to avoid them at all cost. Climbing should be fun and if it hurts to the point where it’s no longer fun, just stop. In my mind it’s always been that simple. Just stop. Lower off, downclimb, whatever, but there is little need to go through so much pain and discomfort if you’re not enjoying it. Ring locks are a different size for everyone, for me, it’s red metolius, for others, it’s going to be orange and/or black, and then there’s the ‘inbetweens’ too. Steep crack climbing is more size dependent than any other type of climbing, what’s a jug for one, is the worlds most impossible hold for another. I think that’s why I like it, there’s no ego involved and the grading system matters the least. Crack climbing sometimes seems more personal and more experience oriented, while sport climbing alone can often be based strictly on a performance level.

So what would I tell my clients now that I just sent 70 feet of Ring Locks? Probably the same thing. If you’re not having fun, just stop. When I tried ‘Tricks Are For Kids’ in Indian Creek, I hated it. I hated doing the same move over and over again. I was bored. I was sunburned and I was dehydrated. My feet hurt, my fingers hurt, my ankles hurt, my elbows hurt, and I had 100 feet or more to go, to me, this was total exacerbation, so I stopped and came down. The return on investment was NILE, ZERO, NADA. However, on Master Blaster, it was a fine line between pain and pleasure, the moves were unique enough that I wanted to stick them, the crack was so beautiful that I wanted to climb it, the setting was serene and temperatures were perfect. It’s something I just can’t understand, how can we feel things but rarely put them into words. How can we love one person and yet not another? And Why am I willing to suffer for one climb but not all climbs? Somewhere in there, the pain is no longer agony but a quenching solace of sorts. I won’t even try.

Guess who’s hands???

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win some, lose some

Friday, March 27th, 2009

It’s windy as all hell today, a dust storm blew over this house and left us in a black out, anything that ain’t tied down is lost. It’s time for handwarmers, toques and down parkas.

Okay, so Honnold never came back out, he was there the day before and decided it was best to drive home to California than to stuff his knuckles back into that overhanging crack. It would have been great to climb with him but since he’s leaving for Borneo in five days, it’s a well respected decision.

Instead Lauren Lee took his place, so it was Mike, Me and Lee trading burns. We all had a great day, Lauren took a crash course in tight hand jams and basically linked the crux roof in a couple tries. Doyle found a way to skip the ring locks and layback the crux, but he’s still missing a crucial link, he needs to swing his feet from one side to the other side without falling. As for me, I fell going for the last hold. I really thought it was over, seriously, in the bag, but then I paused to readjust, just to reset the thumb, and BAM, suddenly shit didn’t feel so good anymore, I came up short on the next hold and the void sucked me down.

I thought, okay, no sweat, I’ll one hang it, and send it next try. Then BAM, OH SNAP, the only good foothold in the roof crumbled under my big toe. All’s that’s left is a sandy sloper. I guess it’s just wasn’t my day. Mike and Lauren traded another burn and we left the gear in place and grabbed burgers in town.

We’re going back up today, but I’m quite discouraged, cracks are hard to begin with, but for me, this may be one of the hardest, big throws between low percentage ring locks. Oooouuch! We shall see, sometimes ya win, sometimes ya lose, all we can do is try our best. So here we go….

Hope it’s a good one for ya’ll.

This pic is just before the roof, a teaser by Keith Ladzinski for more amazing pics visit his site.

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Money

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

can’t buy happiness, but it can buy a day pass to Zion National Park, it can buy the energy it takes to get there too. It can buy a delicious turkey club on rye (with extra beacon) and all those red scrapes and cuts on the back of your hands. Effectively working hard means earning some clams, then we save those clams in a vault, until we feel that all our necessary needs are met, ourselves and our loved ones are clothed, fed and generally speaking happy and content people, there’s a roof overhead and an ipod in each hand, then (and only then) is it time to escape, to use some of those leftover bones and buy a ticket to a dirty place where children never grow up.

Neverland.

It doesn’t matter where your Neverland is, we all have a different island we like to visit, and more often then not it changes, but for the moment, Neverland for me, right now, is in southern Utah, a little place called Zion National Park.

Zion is essentially the worlds biggest and tallest sandbox, a place for the men and women of the world who never grew up much past the toilet training era, the ones who loved stomping back into the house with a plastic shovel stuffed into the back pocket of their adidas shorts. Of course, while gunning for the peanut butter and banana sandwich sitting atop the kitchen counter we’d track mud throughout the entire house, and slowly release tiny grains of sand which leak from our armpits and greasy hair. And while sucking back the last drop of cool-aid a big (purple stained) shit eating grin falls over our faces and we know for certain that life can’t get much better than this. The only one standing in the way of our castle outside and our monumental dreams is our MOM. With one swipe of a loving mothers towel she can bring a child to tears in mere seconds.

Here in Zion, my mother is miles and miles away, and the only thing that’s capable of wiping that smirk off my face now is a rainstorm, and even that could be fun. My plastic shovel is replaced with a rack of cams and a nut tool. But the dirt in my hair feels all too familiar and the peanut butter and banana sandwich tastes as good as the first time. I’ve replaced cool-aid with coffee, but my dreams are still monumental, at least for me they are.

Two days ago my friend Mike and I drove into the magnificent canyons of Zion and tried to climb a crack that at first glance looks and feels perfectly impossible. It’s 70 feet of tight hands and rattling fingers until you reach the roof. The crux. Which is 10 feet of the most ridiculous and insecure ring locks in the world ends with a giant dyno for a sandy ledge. Check out this Beat Kammerlander pic of Dedier, I’m not sure, I’ve ever seen anyone try this hard before.

It’s completely absurd that I actually enjoy this. It’s called Master Blaster, an old aid pitch which has seen attempts by Beat Kammerlander, Dedier Berthod, Will Stanhope, Jeremy Blummel, not to mention a host of other interested parties that I don’t know of. Only the tiny hands of Seattle powerhouse Ben Gilkison could unlock the routes mysterious ways. Now rated 5.13c. But depending on the size of your hands or fingers could be easier or much much harder. The best part is that the final jug is so loose and sandy that it will likely never feel the same way twice, in fact in 10 years it may not even exist at all. The width of the crack will likely widen over time as well, with more placements and traffic and gear grinding away all the crystals, and all we’ll have left is the memory of what it was. But for the climbers in ten years time, they won’t have that, the same way as I don’t have a memory of what it was the first time it was aided, likely in the 70’s or 80’s, but what I do have is the experience right here and right now. And I’m loving it. Here in the desert, it’s not about the guy or girl that came before, or the guy or girl who may come after, it’s about the moment you leap for that final hold and your body swings into a shaft of sunlight and every cell of your being tells you you’re falling off. Except you don’t. You swing back into the rock, kicking your feet up and over the ledge hooking your heels and laughing so hard that you forget which peice of gear goes next. It’s about being in the dirty desert, up high on a wall with a wild wind encompassing your soul. There’s no room for thinking, no deadlines, no meetings, no people at all, just you and the natural world, sharing an experience with the power of the universe, opening up to it and letting it in, and it opening up to you embracing you into a moment of pure truth, pure awarenss where nothing else matters.

I’m going back today to see how much pain I can endure, I’m bringing up Mike Doyle and Alex Honnold, we’re going to be like three big kids playing in a sandbox. Ha ha ha. A very cold sandbox.

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I LOVE THIS MAN

Friday, March 13th, 2009

So yesterday, I went out and TR’d this totally amazing arete feature at Neat and Cool crag. First freed by local hardman Andrew Boyd in 2004, (Boyd is known for his ideal vision and for freeing impossible aid climbs) he established this beautiful feature by taking numerous 30 foot falls just skimming the talus on the ground. Obviously, it’s an arete so there is no gear, but a break just above halfway allows for small cams good enough to hold from ripping. It’s of brilliant quality, especially if you’re a local climber and have access to some of the more quiet days in the bluffs. I would have led it yesterday, (or tried at least) had I not been with only my girlfriend, she’s half my size and the one or two pieces of gear would surely behave as a pulley system, hauling her into the sky and sending me down to the sharp collection of broken rock on the ground. It’s called “Bruce Lee vs The Kiss Army” it goes at about 5.13b – but it’s no ordinary climb, it’s cryptic and balancy, thin yet powerful with the crux of course being the slow and tedious rock over to easier ground. It’s possible to fall off any of the 7 or 8 crux moves, what an adventure, it’s a full on sweat fest. It’s going to snow today, so the redpoint will have to wait.

In regards to the title of this post, for anyone who read my post yesterday, I have changed my mind. I wish there were three of me, not just two. Fuckin hell, ha ha ha.  I wish I was in Switzerland now. Austrian climber Beat Kammerlander (one of my many hero’s) bagged the first clean gear ascent of a difficult thin crack he had first climbed as a bolted sport route in 1997, 11 years ago.   The climb is a 40 meter pitch, and goes at 5.13d/14a, oh and did I mention that Beat is 50 years old? He’s an animal. I’ve never had the pleasure of sharing a rope with Beat, but we’ve pulled back more than a few beers in Indian Creek. ha ha. Which is kinda the same thing right?   me, ivo, beat.

Here’s what I found at Gripped – March 13, 2009 – Kammerlander Climbs Prinzip Hoffnung (Principle Hope)
Kammerlander’s friend Marco Wasina originally equipped and climbed the route’s lower half but did not finish the full 40m pitch. Shortly after this first ascent, Kammerlander returned to the line, added bolts and extended the route to the top of the cliff. The route Principle Hope 5.13d/14a is an obvious thin crack, and an obvious candidate for climbing with clean gear. Realising this, Kammerlander returned this year, pulled the bolts and began working the line on natural protection. After months of rehearsal and training Kammerlander redpointed the line entirely on clean gear adding it to the growing list of difficult global trad lines.

Here are some pictures. I can’t help it, hard trad turns me on, it makes me horny, I don’t always want to clip bolts, I like trying to climb something I may not be able to do, constantly searching for that line of what is and what isn’t.  This may be the kick in the ass I need to make a return trip to Europe, it’s been nearly a year. For me, trad feels much more intimate, not just with the rock but with myself as well, I go into a deeper place into my heart, I ask much more honest questions with myself, I know I can climb 5.14+, but can I climb 5.14- with natural gear?  Can I overcome the difficulty of placing my own protection, can I climb hard and still play safe?  Can I accept the consequences, can I block out each and every superficial voice in my head?  Can I climb knowing the entire time that no one else but me is responsible for my safety, can I climb well and be scared at the same time?  Beat has been a leader of bold climbing since the early 80’s and has repeatedly set the standard for style and ethics.  If you don’t know much about him please do yourself a favor, do some research, you will find you love this man too.

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SHA-BAM

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

So this is cool shit. Just another example of how and why I believe in hangboard training over other forms.  Check this out from 8a.nu – Letitzia Columbo (age 51) a.k.a “Super Titta” has done Calvalveri Selvaggi, 8a+ (5.13c) in Sperionga.  It has a 20 meter roof section in the dell’areonauta cave.  When Letitzia was 40 she did her first 7a.  The secret she says is dead-hang training (aka fingerboarding) as she has had a back problem for over a year.

Oh Man, – it’s spring time and there is soo many cool things happening.  I wish there were two of me sometimes, so I could be in two places at once.  This World is just too beautiful for one set of eyes, and there is too much climbing to do for just one set of arms and legs.  Do you ever feel that way?  Like you’re missing out?  For example, I LOVE Squamish, I mean, I really LOVE it, I could be like Ron Kauk is with the Valley and just never leave this place.  In fact, today is yet another gorgeous sunny day, so we are going bouldering at 2pm.  It stayed light yesterday until about 7:50pm, sooooo exciting.  If anything rad goes down I’ll let you know, there’s a strong crew in Squampton these days, and they are only getting stronger.

But if I could, the other “me” would probably be in Boulder right now, or maybe Britain, or in Spain.  Matt Segal lead a new climb that’s been sitting there for a while.  I think the moves were top roped before but certainly never lead, so BIG PROPS to Segal, check out his funny blog about writing.  Also, Matt Wilder is in Boulder trying to climb Iron Monkey 5.14.  Ethan Pringle (of course) made the second ascent of this short and tasty pitch, and said it felt pretty hard.  Well that’s nice because it shows that Ethan too has to bend his elbows from time to time.  ha.  I worked on Iron Monkey for a couple of weeks back in the spring of 2006.  It was actually still very wintery, early March-ish.  I can’t remember how many times I tried it, maybe 5 days and I think I may have stuck the dyno once, off the dog, with perfect timing, setting and evertyhing.  Climbing into the dyno wasn’t that bad and I could link after the dyno pretty easily, but linking it all together was a whole ‘nother story.  I’ve been told from many people that it’s a lot harder if you’re taller, but I’m not sure, I just think it’s a lot harder if you’re weaker.  I’m not a boulderer so to me it felt desperate,  V12+ probably.  But I think it’s great fun, I like having lines out there that oppose to my style, makes me want to keep striving.  Maybe I’ll be back in November.  In the meantime good luck to Wilder.

Ben Bransby the polite, and well spoken bad-ass climber from England has made yet another brilliant first ascent, and this is just me talking here, but tell me,  honestly, is this not one of the most striking boulder problems you’ve ever seen?  Man, what I’d give for just one slap.

The Big Up Productions crew is back in full swing as well, they seem to have their plate full with many a filming projects.  Did you see the stuff they did in NY?   Angelic.

Quite frankly, I hate the word BLOG, it pisses me right off.  But I love bloggers.  I love spending 15 or 20 minutes a day and learning about all the radness/sickness that’s happening around the world, I love when people show us pictures and tell us stories, because they are representing for the guys and girls who wish “we had two of us”.  I wish I could be in Spain right now, falling off some world class 5.14b, wishing I had stayed at the rest for a few more breaths, or wishing I had twisted into that pocket just a little more instead of rushing it.  I wish I could be sitting in the shade instead of searching for sun.  I wish I could be in Boulder, climbing with Matt, taking calculated risks and sticking that dyno.  But I’m not, I’m here in Squamish with my thoughts, my high speed internet, my beautiful lady, our climbing/yoga lifestyle.

On that note, I think it’s about time, the other me, went climbing, for REAL.  I can dream of having two ME’s, being in two places, having two experiences (at least) but really, the best of life is being in the present moment, being right here where you are, and here I am.  Squamish.  So I’ll pack my bag, roll up my pad and head for the granite blocs that are calling my name.

To all the people out there willing to share your adventures, poems, art and thoughts,  thank you and keep it up, you keep me centered in a different way, you keep me alive, inspired and dreaming and yet present at the very same time.  Namaste.

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Sonnie’s Simple Training Tip of the Week!

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Hey Gang,

So, I’ve been wanting to write about this sort of stuff for a while now, but it seems every week I get sidetracked by something or rather, but now I have made a new commitment to focus at least one blog post per week to a training tip.  I seem to have an uncontrollable curiosity for strength training, and while some climbers are born strong, and others develop strength, I find the act of training the body and mind a fascinating topic.  I say this because although I was born with relatively okay genes for climbing, I’ll never be as strong as the Worlds elite boulderers – and quite frankly, I’m cool with that, I just want to climb the best that “I” can and if that means maxing out on V12 then so be it.  But nevertheless, I’m always going to try and improve and I’ll always be “that guy” who requires training, because if I don’t I start to suck really bad, really fast.  Here’s the first installment, it’s also a plug, you’ll know what I mean when you get to the end….

Training Tip of the Week.

I noticed a very interesting post some weeks back that I would like to share with you today.  I sincerely hope the people involved don’t mind me bringing this to light on my own web page, but I couldn’t help but be intrigued by this as I am a firm believer in hangboard training for climbing.  For more great posts, interviews and articles please go to www.rockandice.com

Since R&I is my homepage (for obvious good reasons) I couldn’t help but notice this topic posted on their forum.  The remark grabbed me because it’s something I used to wonder myself.  I don’t mean to impose on Dr.J, the man knows his stuff surely and I have no doubt he’ll have great advice, but still, I wanted to share this with you and see if any readers here have had similar effects.  I know I have, in fact, I had a problems with most market hangboards, that’s why I ended up just building my own to offset the problems I was noticing.

Here’s what the letter said….

“Hi Dr. J,

I use an old Pusher Powerjunkie hangboard and have a concern about the geometry of the main jugs on it. In the past I have had elbow problems, and I was wondering if it is bad to do pull ups on grips that are not horizontal. The grips on the Powerjunkie are slanted to the outside of the board. Do you think that this set up could have a negative affect on my elbows? Is it healthier to have the grips set up horizontally as most other hangboards do?   Thanks for your opinion!”

Here’s my personal take on the subject from my own experience (and if you don’t know what a powerjunkie is, ask a friend, I’m sure they can fill you in)………

Being a one-time user of the power junkie myself, this question captured my attention for a couple of reasons, although I loved the look and simplicity of the board, not to mention the smooth texture, I had the exact same issues in my elbows and wrists.  The reason I think this happens is because the elbows bend slightly inwards and the wrists get bent or cranked to one side.  The same holds true for pinches on hangboards, they often fail on flat surfaces because they torque the wrist to bend inwards, thus putting unnecessary strain on the tendons, bones and elbows.  It’s not 3D and there is no room for (ROM) range of motion, it’s all fixed.   Climbers don’t particularly like “FIXED” positions for training, because climbing in essence is RANGE OF MOTION, there are millions of angles, holds, shapes, distances and variables in climbing, so by being stuck to just ONE position i.e. a pocket or a set of jugs, you could potentially develop overuse injuries.

So, in conclusion, I agree with this person’s observation, hangboards or fingerboards should be horizontal, aka, ‘NEUTRAL’ to eliminate discomfort over time.

Furthermore, to gain proper pinch power, I prefer to use free hanging blocks, like the ones in this picture below.  This way, you are using straight down GRAVITY or WEIGHT and maximum PURE grip strength, not just hooking the thumbs over a sharp edge.  By this method, you’ll know exactly why you fell off and where your threshold is, also, there is never any joint pain.

This is a picture of my original hangboard, I call it the V-Board because I use it to measure where I’m at on the V-scale.  If I can climb V9 this month, it always reflects in my hang time, on the different edges, if I can climb V11 or V12 this too reflects in my time on the board and the weight in which I can add to my belt.

Many of you know by now from my posts, and from word of mouth that I’ve been busy building this V-Board in my workshop from home.  So far it’s been an experiment of sorts, and I’ve been custom building each board to fill very small orders, for friends and friends of friends.  So now, my enthusiasm for training for climbing has turned into a small venture and the feedback so far has been very exciting.

If you wish to know more about this V-board, it’s design, materials or philosophy and how it will get you stronger feel free to contact me via e-mail with any questions you have.  I’m still taking some pre-orders before I go into production and release the new website, so you can get yours early.  But please be patient, as this is a very modest operation and we are only capable of producing a small run every week.  Like I said, so far it’s been for friends and friends of friends. We are still learning about shipping costs, so each order will be handled in person. sonniejtrotter@yahoo.ca

May this week bring all sweet and wonderful things to you.  Namaste.

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A clue for you!

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

Greetings,  this week and weekend has been a busy one, but all in good fun.  My amazing girlfriend and her equally talented friend Sarah Jones are opening their first yoga studio – this weekend.   The energy is high.  But we’ve been working hard, painting, sanding, cutting, framing, stretching, breathing, laying down floor, installing lighting, eating sushi, drinking organic beers, installing doors, and signs and curtains.  Meanwhile the girls have been trying to stay relaxed by doing regular meditation in the mornings and they’re gleaming with excitement. This Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th is the grand opening, so please if you’re in the area come on down for donation only classes – all weekend – any money you put in the jar is going to the Pacific Wild organization that is in place to protect to Western Canada’s Coastal Rainforrests and you may just realign your spine in the process.   Also, if you come this weekend you can score a sweet deal on a one month or three month unlimited pass.  I could go on about yoga, but I won’t, you know how good it is, you just need to do it, even if you don’t do it much, you know it works, (especially climbers and desk jockeys) so instead I’ll leave you with a picture and the address.  www.theyogastudiosquamish.com – 2nd Avenue, beside Heavy Duty’s house.  If you’re from Squamish, it won’t be hard to find.  Sorry for the short non climbing blog, but thought it was worth a mention.  I’m hoping to take off at 3pm and get in some soloing pitches this afternoon at the bluffs, but not until our work here is done.  Again, I hope everyone is having an AMAZING week.  If you’re not,  you can always do something about it – s-grin.  Namaste.

OH and by the way, to all you treasure hunters out there,  here is your 2^nd Clue: Code Name: Cobra got a lot comments bet you won’t figure this one out. And your key is: T T

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