SonnieTrotter.com

I'm in Kelowna now.  I was in Squamish for about 36 hours, looking to climb some, but the weather was crap and I've never been so demotivated in my life.  Also, we are livin in our van for one last week until we move into our PRIMO apartment, so things were getting a little tight by the end of it.  I decided to bail and drive to Kelowna, the land of sun and surf, where the beer flows like wine, where the men and women fake'n bake sun tanners gather on a the main drag at night to compare breast implants and IROC Z28's.  Where even the meth heads and candy droppers dye their hair blonde for social comfort and self confidence.  This place is a wild place to be.  I've been in limbo land for a while, to and from, house to van, van to house, from and to and I'm growing tired of being homeless.  My motivation is waning, I'm no longer the selfish bouncing bag of dirt I once was, now my priorities are my girlfriend (first and foremost), a warm dry place to live second, climbing rocks third, sending my "proj" fourth, and in a dim but barely visible distance - making money fifth.

Okay, so I want to share with you the next best thing from the Okanagan Valley since Mike Doyle, lady's and gentlemen allow me to introduce THE Boulder Field.  I was here in Kelowna last year and got the tour, from the man behind Sequence Climbing Slamdog, aka Mike Stripes, aka the rambler-macdingles.com, but 2 hours was not nearly enough time to see everything and climb as well, the canyon is bigger than you think and the climbing is going to be stout, more like Rocky Mountain National Park than Squamish granite.  The boulders are crimpy and for the most part clean.  There's a handful of 5.13's, but as more and more climbers visit the area (4x4 required) there will likely be some star attractions. Daniel Woods, Paul Robinson? Vince Chong? V15?  Here are some pictures of last seasons session walk-a-bout.  We are hoping to get up there today or tomorrow, as it's only 15 minutes from down town K-town, but after three cups of coffee I'm not certain I am safe to drive, or type for that matter, (which would probably explain the randomness of this entry, ahhhhh! BORING)  Okay, pictures.

So, that about wrap things up for today, (yawn) but not to worry, during my next post I'll tell you all about the time I almost bought gum.  Trust me, it's riveting.  So...

until then, I want to leave you with a few good links to other climbing sites.  It seems everyone has a website these days, which is good, becuase we can spend more time trolling the net and reading about people climbing and less time actually doing it, we can slowly fall deeper and deeper into the depressing world of cyber space and stare at this lonely computer screen until our vision blurs.  Maybe when we all go blind, we'll start to see again. Hmmm, deep thoughts by SJT?  Not deep enough.  But for serious, these are great sites by great and talented people, check them out and be inspired.  But don't surf too long, the web is great, truly it is, but once the dose hits your bloodstream, GET OUTSIDE and go climbing, or do something active for the sake your sanity (and mine) PLEEEEZE - all this is pointless if we don't.  It's blog overload these days, it's easy to get lost, and quite honestly it's driving me crazy.   I love writing, I really do, and I love reading as well, life in general is interesting and I'm a HUGE FAN of life, and other peoples lives, even if I'm not on point, or feeling sharp, I just love to scribble things down, maybe it's because I'm ADD and I can't turn off the delicate mechanism of the mind, or maybe it's because I'm bored stoned. Okay, gotta go, peace out.

www.mattsegal.com

www.katiebrownclimbs.com

www.restlessplanet.wordpress.com

www.chrisglanzer.blogspot.com

http://www.kelownarockbc.com

Choose wisely.

Sonnie.

Oh my gosh, I nearly forgot to mention the big news of this week (or at least in my life).  Two days ago Derek Galloway and I finished off a project that had been hanging over me for nearly one year.  My good friend Nick R and I bolted the beautiful orange headwall last summer and then one thing led to the next and it never got climbed.  This year I headed back with my mate Crosby.  We simu-soloed to the ledge of the Calgary route 5.6 then rested, enjoyed the view and ate a sandwich.  We then headed up the wall in good style until a foot hold broke, sending me flying into the air.  It's incredible to take a big fall when there is more than 500 feet to the ground.  Scary.

Two days ago Big D, offered me a belay, It was my last day to giver.  We rapped into the wall from the top as to save ourselves the scramble.  I was still tired from being sick last week, but managed a clean ascent of the two routes I fell off before.  On top rope and with most holds ticked, Derek G made a brilliant and near effortless flash.  He is now looking for a motivated partner to go back and lead the line, "hopefully with some extra courage" he said.  So if anyone is feeling brave, give him a shout, he's easy to find.

The climbing is WORLD CLASS and overhanging (slightly) the whole way.  5.12b, 5.13b, 5.13a, 5.12b.  So far we have dubbed it the Mistress, but maybe there should be a refrence to the golden nature of the line. Tangerine?  Any thoughts?  It was a great day to be in the mountains, hot but windy, the line is well bolted with great belays, a little more traffic will clean it up perfectly, as it is very few chips crumble, the only draw back is that it's hard to rap off, if you think you're not going to make it, rap to the ledge and finish on the Calgary Route.  I am so stoked we were able to git er done, Derek is climbing extremely well this summer and hopefully he'll get a chance to investigate Nick's latest proj, the Blue Jeans. 5.14????

Climbing such high quality sport routes, this high off the ground is like nothing else I've done in North America, maybe Mexico. But topping out on a mountain is more than this soul cold ask for.  I wish I had more time to try Will Gadd's Yamabushi.  Supposed to be another classic, yam is still full of potential. 

Okay, the car is packed, off to the cottage for a week of canoe tipping.  have a good one.

S.

Okay, so for the four or five people that read this blog, I must appologize.  I am putting things on hold for the next 8 days or so.  I enjoy writing about some details of my life, especially if they are climbing related, but other details clearly do not need to be shared.  All I can say is that there is a big celebration this month within our family and I'll be spending the next week or so lake front with loved ones.  I sincerely hope everyone is having an AMAZING summer so far, it seems in Canada (at least) the real season is only beginning.  The forecast calls for splitter skies, I'm hoping ya'll can get out and have some fun.

On a side note, I'll be officially living in Squamish come Aug 26th.  I've booked a few days of rock guiding so far, but if you are interested in coming up to the Squamish Valley anytime in Sept and need a guide, I'll be more than happy to make a date.  Drop me an email and I'll get back to you ASAP.  sonniejtrotter@yahoo.ca

Cheers and best wishes,

Sonnie

I just saw this cover shot of CLIMB. Britain's Biggest Climbing Magazine. I have yet to read what the reporter wrote, but I'll hopefully get my fingers on a copy soon enough, you know for checking facts and what-have-you. The funny thing about Media is that they are a Necessary Evil, most people I know really don't enjoy any sort of attention, but they do it because it allows them freedom to continue the lifestyle they enjoy, it is a trade off that seems to make sense, for how long depends on the person. The novelty wears off. But, I'm not going to lie, I got a big kick out of the first time I ever saw my picture printed in Gripped, way back in 1998. It was a rush for sure, and my first thought was "oh crap, I look like an idiot". Well, over the years, I have come to terms with the fact that I not only look the part, but I play a fairly good idiot as well. Idiocy seems to come very natural for me, I suppose I am blessed. ha ha.

This week, FIVE TEN hosted a very intersting meeting of the minds. It was a continued education program for their athletes and the conference room was packed, from David Graham to Alex Johnson. Famous climber Lynn Hill, Photographer Jimmy Chin and Pyromaniac Jonathan Thesenga were all part of this first time ever event and coached us and inspired us to take on the world, and quite frankly it was a huge success. Thanks to Charles Cole, Nancy Prichard, Tim O'Brian, Isaac Tait and everyone at Five Ten for making this happen.

The dream team.

One of the themes that really struck a chord with athletes, was JT's presentation about getting hosed by the media, or rather, how NOT to get hosed. You see the media are a sly bunch of foxes, always trying to get the very best most interesting and exciting hook. If you give them an inch they will take as many miles as legally possible, sometimes more. So the first lesson was "DO NOT GET HOSED" by the media. A tricky thing and an art all by itself. I raise this issue now, because aparantly this CLIMB cover photo (ABOVE) does not belong to the photographer who snapped it, Mr.Cory Richards, but the credit now belongs to Cory Rich, another talented photographer from the U.S. who is or never was anywhere close to Dumbarton. You may think this is an honest mistake, and it is, but it's also very weak. It's sort of the same if you climb the first free ascent of (an all natural) route that you tried really-really hard to nail, then after some minor internal bleeding and five rolls of finger tape you nabbed it, everyone celebrates and the sponsors, the money, the media and the guide books gave all the credit to some Joe Brooks. U got HOSED dude. What you may get if you raise a huge stink about it, is a tiny blurb in the "corrections" section, but you'll surely require a magnifying glass to read it and it'll be months down the road, thanks but no thanks. I say we need to raise some hell, I mean if you're a Zen master with no ego at all then please disregard this post, but if you ever got ripped off, truly, just because someone failed to do any homework, I say raise a fuss and make them make it right. They owe you. Damn it, you worked hard for that. They are using their power to humiliate you (intentionally or unintentionally) either way it is UNCOOL.

However, please don't misunderstand me, I love the MEDIA. I love them. They help to keep me inspired for the rocks, they print words from writers I would otherwise never read, pictures I may never see and they do a great job with advertising new products and giving credit where credit is due, I love the media. But this is not about me or how good of a job they are doing, it's about you, and not getting hosed by the media yo, if you can help it that is. So in closing, this entry is dedicated to all those photographers out there who don't get enough credit and to Cory Richards for being in the right place at the right time for this cover. Cheers.