Sonnie Trotter

Good News and Bad

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

Well, the good news for anyone in BC, is that the weather has been UN-freaking BELIEVABLE lately,  going on 10 days straight of blissful blissyness.

I’ve been climbing up at a newish cliff above Lakeside in the Woods at Murrin Park lately,  the climbing is truly exceptional up there.   Last night I managed to send a short term project I called ‘Nothing in Moderation’.  I think it goes at 5.13c, give or take a little.  Being less then vertical, it climbs like a hard slab, it’s got 6 bolts and it’s simply amazing.  Again, the Five Ten Blanco’s came through for me,  even though they were an old, beat up pair from my Yosemite trip, they still edged like a super champ.  I’ll try and post a photo soon for those interested in trying it. I look forward to seeing some other people on it, it’s very compact rock.  As always, there’s a slew of sickly strong climbers in Squamish right now and lots of great things are going down.  It’s a productive time.  There’s a new guidebook coming out this spring, and yet, it’s already outdated.  It’s like a gold rush up here.  New route gold.

Check out this clip of Ben Harnden sending Gunslinger, 5.13d R, at Murrin Park.  It’s a super great climb.  My only suggestion for the flick is to have done a tiny, little, smidge of editing, as smooth and as good looking as Ben is, I don’t really feel the need to watch him rest for 2 minutes between cruxes.  Just saying.  Also I’m sensing a bit of JSmith flare in the music selection.  Nice work gents, looking fit as ever Ben.  I hope they don’t mind me sharing this, I know how they feel about media, but since this was already posted on facebook, I feel like it’s probably okay.

The bad news is that I seem to have developed a case of Petallar Tendonitis.  I could barely sleep last night the pain was so acute.  Today, I can barely walk.  I am pretty certain it’s from hiking up steep, dirty, slippery, hills with a heavy backpack in my sandals.

NOTE:  If you think you are bad ass (but aren’t), and you love flip-flops, do yourself a favor and put on socks and real hiking shoes from time to time or you will suffer eventually from sever inflammation and discomfort.  Now, I can’t even hike up the stairs to my own house, let alone my new projects on the prow wall.  Super frustrating.  It came on pretty suddenly too.  Actually that’s a lie,  I’ve been ignoring it for a week because it wasn’t so painful I couldn’t hike, or climb or whatever, and then BAM, it just blew up overnight.  Here’s a link to some remedies if anyone is suffering from the same temporary condition….

http://www.triedandtruefitness.com/how-i-cured-my-patellar-tendonitis-in-14-days/410/

| Posted in Climbing | 2 Comments »

New Vid

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

If you haven’t bouldered in Joshua Tree yet, it’s worth a quick visit.

| Posted in Climbing | 2 Comments »

What’s his secret?

Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

About 12 years ago, I recall a day in Utah with my friend Dave Graham, a phenom climber who was making quick work of all the hardest routes in Hell Cave, including Ice Cream, 5.14c.  When we climbed at the gym in the evenings, a group of us would begin doing fun campus problems,  big moves between medium sized holds.  Although I could not touch the crux of Ice Cream, I could for whatever reason do these problems,  so could all our friends.  Everyone except Dave.  I’m not trying to single him out, he’s one of the best rock climbers to touch stone, I was merely shocked that he could not lock off with one arm long enough to reach the next hold,  yet,  he can climb V12 like it’s no big deal.  So what’s his secret?  Is he weak?  Are we strong?  No AND Not necessarily.  What I realized is that Dave is not only light, which helps a little, but he’s also very, very strong in the right places to climb hard rocks.  Core, fingers and mind.

I love climbing hard as much as anybody, but it’s hard work to climb hard.  I mostly go rock climbing outside these days because it’s my real passion, and I try hard when I get the chance, but if we are going to invest any precious time or energy into specific training to climb harder,  what’s the best use of that time?  Well,  here’s a little secret, don’t train one arm chin ups.

The worlds most accomplished sport climber and boulderer Adam Ondra has recently completed his first one arm chin up according to Planet Mountain.com.   This fact only reinforces what I (and dozens of other climbers and coaches) have said for years, the key to climbing hard is not in the arms at all.  It’s mostly in the fingers and core.  Adam Ondra has onsighted more 5.14c’s than any human being EVER, climbed a handful of 5.15b’s, and he’s just recently climbed a 5.14d on his very first try (though not technically a flash, he’s on his way to being the first person to do so).  In the bouldering field he’s equally as strong, having flashed V14, and climbed V16.  It seems if it can be done by anyone, it can be repeated by Ondra, and there’s no telling what he’s still capable of.  Especially considering he’s only 18.

I think, if you’re going to train specifically for climbing, keep it simple.  Here’s a few tips I’ve picked up over the years.

1.  Focus on your strength to weight ratio, which means, stronger, leaner muscles.  Overall fitness is great, just as long as you’re not bulking up unnecessarily, unless you’re into that sort of thing.  More lean vitamin rich foods, and less Krispy Kreme donuts, more veggies, more protein, and more cardio exercise won’t hurt either.  Just add water, electrolites and antioxidants.  It’s all very simple and basic,  no need to do any sort of rigid regime here, just use common sense and a touch of will power.  No sweat.

2. Focus on your core .  If your core is weak it will tire quickly on steeper routes, and your body will sag, if you sag, you’re further away from the wall then you want to be, thus further from the holds you want to be grabbing.  If you’re strong, you’ll be tighter to the wall making moves feel easier and closer.

3.  Stress your fingers.  If you don’t stress your fingers regularly, then they’ll forget how to dig into small holds, it’s a neurological connection.  Stress your fingers, crimp with thumb, half crimp, and open hand.  If you start doing funky things like one finger hangs I think it’s not very sustainable and you may end up getting injured,  if you must train one fingers for those 5.14d’s in the Frank, then do them for a period of time then lay off again for a little while to let them recover.  I personally prefer to keep it all very simple,  most if not all the holds I grab (even on really hard routes) are not often tweaky or one digit, they usually involve three or four fingers, but they are just hard to grab, so strengthen my fingers is still pretty crucial.   If you’re getting too strong for your finger board, don’t walk away, add a little bit of weight, but that doesn’t mean over do it.  Be sensible.  Again, this is very basic stuff, but it works if you actually do it, and don’t get carried away.

4.  Climb as much as you can, as often as you can.  Sport climbing is not as hard on the body as bouldering, so get out, move the body around, get the blood flowing, get pumped, have fun, be nice to your fellow climbers and be thankful that you have the ability to do this.  If you have a local crag, be thankful for that too, some people live in Kansas you know.

5.  Stay psyched.  Remember why you fell in love with climbing in the first place,  Climbing is like the coolest thing ever, it’s physical, beautiful and a wonderful mental exercise.  Achieving a new level is like discovering a different part of yourself.  Climb with people who force you to get outside, to expand your world, to keep you curious, and people that make you feel good about yourself and who laugh and don’t bitch about why the world is out to get them.  Mean people suck and climbing rocks doesn’t.

Okay, I hope it’s a great spring so far for everyone.  I got to hit up a new crag here in Squamish this weekend and do some new routes.  So many cool new 5.11′s and 5.12′s, it’s good to see the quality development here is still growing.  It’s a good time to be a Squamish climber.  Cheers.

| Posted in Climbing | 22 Comments »

Alpinism! BD style!

Friday, April 27th, 2012

I like to climb rocks, and lately, the bigger the better, but I’m no alpinist,  never have been really.  Maybe it’s from being from Toronto:)  Looking back, I haven’t enjoyed being cold for long enough periods of time to actually “get into it”, and honestly,  I have always preferred the gymnastic movements of difficult rock climbing to ‘picks and ‘pons.  But after seeing this stunning online catalog by BD,  I’m thinking a lot more seriously about starting.

What I love about images (and moving images) is that they have this very strange ability to strike our imaginations in ways that we could not predict they would.  When I see these pictures and read these words, it makes me want to get out there and do something I’ve never done before, maybe it will have the same effect on you too?  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Climber: Andy Houseman     Location: Summit ridge of Grandes Jorasses

| Posted in Climbing | 3 Comments »

Hey Oh!

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

Sorry for being out of touch lately, I have been away, went to a place called Gozo to try and climb some sea cliffs.  I’ll be back soon and updating regularly with thoughts again.  Training, gear, trip reports, idea’s,  things like that.  Until then, here’s a pic from the Gozo sea cliffs.  Lets chalk this one up as… well, chalk I guess.  Carry on, upwards.

Malta Sea CLiffs, SOnnie Trotter

| Posted in Climbing | 7 Comments »

MORE VIMEO

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

I don’t know how I missed this stuff,  I’m pretty sure I’m the last person on the planet to see this,  but it’s still HILARIOUS and still worth watching.   My buddy, Andrew Tower crushing the climbing scene and some girl I don’t know named Alex Hanifin owning the foodies of Boulder crowd.  Awesome work.

Shit Climbers Say from Louder Than 11 on Vimeo.

Shit Foodies Say from Louder Than 11 on Vimeo.

| Posted in Climbing | 2 Comments »

VIMEO

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

The rain is still falling here, ain’t going to lie, but this year it’s not bothering me, at all.  I’m really at peace with it, in fact, I’m actually enjoying the gray skies, a lot.  I was able to hit the gym twice this week and trying to stay in some sort of climbing shape for spring, when things really kick in.  But while I was searching for some more Malta inspiration, I came upon two video’s made by a young Toby Segar,  not sure where he’s from, but he certainly does have a catchy editing style.  I’m not really into the parkour thing, or the music too much, or at least, it’s not the type of music I’d listen to at home, but it seems to work well in Toby’s stuff, he knows how to keep it pretty legit.  Got me all fired up to get out and get after it,  whatever ‘IT’ is,  thanks T.  Keep up the good work.

We Are Storror from Toby Segar on Vimeo.

MALTA CLIFF DIVING 2011 from Toby Segar on Vimeo.

| Posted in Climbing | 1 Comment »

QUESTING IN GOZO

Friday, March 30th, 2012

Now that the mysterious Prow Wall Offwidth case has been solved, (see Colin and Tony’s comments on post below:)  Although, not entirely,  we’re still waiting to hear from the original person who put in the anchor on top, and I’m still curious if they’ve been free’d yet or not?  Hmm, I wonder.  But since Colin Moorhead knows more about rock climbing in Squamish than maybe any other person and he has no solid answer, I’d have to go with “probably not”.  Regardless, they are big, bold and beautiful and I think they’ll make for a great ground up approach to the Power of Yesterday, 5.13c.

However, there’s not much sense in thinking about the big Chief right now,  since it’s literally socked in fog and snow.  I wonder if the great granite monolith is even still there, I feel like I haven’t seen it in days.  Either way, I am more excited about my upcoming trip than I am about climbing steep wet offwidths.

A bit of history,  WAY back in 2005, Paul Bride and I were drunk on cheap wine and homemade chocolate chip cookies, randomly searching internet photo’s looking for climbing adventures in random places.  What we found was a photo of the Blue Grotto on the island of Malta.    What?  We booked our tickets IMMEDIATELY based solely on that ONE photograph, without any idea of what the rest of the country may offer.  See the photo below.

Below, Jason Holowach jumps off the Blue Grotto’s famous arch while Nels and I wait patiently in the kayak to pick him up.  Paul Bride Photograph.  What a wild route that was.  Oh wow,  what a route.

When we arrived with team Canada, (Paul Bride, Me, Nels Rosassen, Jason Holowach, Matt Maddaloni) and Katie Brown, (our token American representative) we paddled around the islands with inflatable kayaks and established a heap of new deep water solo’s up to 5.13a.  It was the trip of a lifetime.   We also managed to climb a 5.11 or 5.12 on the underside of this huge arch (above) called “Limestone Cowboy’s”, but we jumped off before topping out as it got too dangerous.  Check out these video clips that Matt and I made when we were just little kids.  Notice my awesome green bathing cap with mohawk.  Pretty funny that we actually pulled off such a rad exploration type adventure.   To see all the video’s, check out Matt’s VIMEO PAGE.

Malta DWS part 1 of 3 from Matt Maddaloni on Vimeo.

Malta DWS Part 3 of 3 from Matt Maddaloni on Vimeo.

So,  this time around, (7 years later) I am going back with my friends Tommy Caldwell, Becca Caldwell and Corey Rich.  We want to explore the bigger, more traditional style rock climbs on the south side of Gozo island.  The cliffs range from 300 – 500 feet tall.  Interestingly, the legendary Brit Stevie Haston is there right now, putting up new routes as well, some bolted, some not.  What are the odds?  Actually, Malta is nothing new to the British Climbers, who have been going there for decades, in hopes of finding super scary very difficult extremely severe trad routes in slightly better weather.   I hope we get the chance to bump into Stevie, he’s a bit of a hero of mine, although, I am also slightly intimidated by him, I mean, he’s from the days when Men were Men, and he’s known as THE man, the man who does 1000 pull-ups A DAY,  YIKES.  Can you say…….Burl. See his latest creation below. Click on the image to get to the link.

So, ya, I leave in one week.  If my memory serves me correctly, we’ll encounter some outrageous caves, long runouts between sketchy gear, lots of sunshine and maybe we’ll get to open up some new routes if we’re lucky.  Malta is relatively unknown, and I seriously can’t believe I am going back to this place for my second time.  Although, 2 weeks may not be enough:)  Cool, gotta go,  I hope you’re all out there living your dreams, little by little, day by day.  I know Stevie Haston is,  what a beast.

| Posted in Climbing | 3 Comments »

Any Beta?

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

| Posted in Climbing | 4 Comments »

A few months ago…

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Rock and Ice published an article (issue #199) that I wrote on climbing a big wall with Tommy Caldwell in the Canadian Rockies.  We established a new route on Mount Louis, going directly up the Diamond Face and intersecting a route my friend Eric Dumerac once tried.  All in all – it’s a 5 star, 15 pitch climb, with nearly 8 low angle scrambling gear pitches and 7 bolted face pitches.  We bolted 4 of the 7 pitches on the headwall (3 already established by Eric) and then climbed the route ground up in a push in August.  As happy as we were to finish the climb and open it up to the public, I think the best part of the whole experience was the unknown.  We never knew if (or when) the holds might run out and it would be too hard to free climb.  Below is a clip I made for BD about the experience.  Hope you enjoy it – and have yourselves an AWESOME DAY!  Peace.

BD athletes Sonnie Trotter and Tommy Caldwell free climb first ascent of The Shinning (IV 5.13+) in the Canadian Rockies from Black Diamond Equipment on Vimeo.

| Posted in Climbing | 2 Comments »