Sonnie Trotter

Lydia and I have been running a lot lately, actually more like hiking, usually 2-3 hours up in the mountains, but sometimes upwards of 4-5 hours,  it’s been so good.  It’s always amazing to me how far we can travel on foot.  With a light back and some good boots.  You can go anywhere you want.  And when you turn around and look back from where you came, it’s the most simple and rewarding feeling I can think of.  Also, I’ve been reading alot of Edward Abbey.  He was a poet of sorts, an author definitely, but also a great inspiration. Check his books, Desert Solitaire and the Monkey Wrench Gang.   Abbey’s abrasiveness, opposition to “progress” and outspoken words made him the object of much controversy. Conventional environmentalists (from mainstream groups) disliked his radical style, “Keep America Beautiful…Burn a Billboard”.

Edward Abbey died on March 14, 1989.  Showing his sense of humor, he left a message for anyone who asked about his final words: “No comment.” Abbey also left instructions on what to do with his remains described in Outside Magazine in 2003…

He wanted his body transported in the bed of a pickup truck. He wanted to be buried as soon as possible. He wanted no undertakers. No embalming, for Godsake! No coffin. Just an old sleeping bag… Disregard all state laws concerning burial. “I want my body to help fertilize the growth of a cactus or cliff rose or sagebrush or tree.” said the message.’

‘As for his funeral: He wanted gunfire, and a little music. “No formal speeches desired, though the deceased will not interfere if someone feels the urge. But keep it all simple and brief.” And then a big happy raucous wake. He wanted more music, gay and lively music. He wanted bagpipes. “And a flood of beer and booze! Lots of singing, dancing, talking, hollering, laughing, and lovemaking.” said the message. And meat! Beans and chilis! And corn on the cob. Only a man deeply in love with life and hopelessly soft on humanity would specify, from beyond the grave, that his mourners receive corn on the cob.’

Abbey’s body was buried in the Cabeza Prieta Desert, in Pima County, AZ, where “you’ll never find it.”  His friends carved a marker on a nearby stone, reading: EDWARD PAUL ABBEY  1927—1989   No Comment.

Here are some of my all time favorite quotes, I hope you enjoy them too.  And if you don’t have time to read them all, skip to the last one.

“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.”

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.”

“The tragedy of modern war is that the young men die fighting each other – instead of their real enemies back home in the capitals.”

“Anarchism is founded on the observation that since few men are wise enough to rule themselves, even fewer are wise enough to rule others.”

“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit”

“The missionaries go forth to Christianize the savages – as if the savages weren’t dangerous enough already”

“Society is like a stew. If you don’t stir it up every once in a while then a layer of scum floats to the top.”

“Love implies anger. The man who is angered by nothing cares about nothing.”

“A drink a day keeps the shrink away”

“There is science, logic, reason; there is thought verified by experience. And then there is California.”

“If the end does not justify the means – what can?”

“One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain’t nothin’ can beat teamwork.”

“You can’t study the darkness by flooding it with light.”

“Our ‘neoconservatives’ are neither new nor conservative, but old as Babylon and evil as Hell”

“Power is always dangerous. Power attracts the worst and corrupts the best.”

“Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”

“The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.”

“When a man’s best friend is his dog, that dog has a problem”

“Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination”

“When the philosopher’s argument becomes tedious, complicated, and opaque, it is usually a sign that he is attempting to prove as true to the intellect what is plainly false to common sense”

“In the modern techno-industrial culture, it is possible to proceed from infancy into senility without ever knowing manhood”

“High technology has done us one great service: It has retaught us the delight of performing simple and primordial tasks – chopping wood, building a fire, drawing water from a spring”

“For myself I hold no preferences among flowers, so long as they are wild, free, spontaneous.”

“Taxation: how the sheep are shorn”

“The only thing worse than a knee-jerk liberal is a knee-pad conservative.”

“In social institutions, the whole is always less than the sum of its parts. There will never be a state as good as its people, or a church worthy of its congregation, or a university equal to its faculty and students.”

“Is there any spot on earth that men have not proved accessible by the simplest means — feet and legs and heart?”

“One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards.”

So this clip was shown to me by my mate Jamie Chong from his blog, but it made Lyds and I laugh so hard we cried.  Can’t help but want to share that experience with others.  This is classic.  My favorite fail video of all time…

I’m going skiing today, so psyched.  Whistler/Blackcomb.  Hope it’s a great February 1st for everyone.  Enjoy the clip.

Hey, Thanks for dropping by the ramblings of Trotter.

I  just wanted to give a last minute thanks to the hard working crew at the 2010 Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival – VIMFF. Friday night was one to remember (fortunately everything AFTER 1:am I sort of forget).  The sold out show had well over 700 people in the auditorium.  Besides my brief speaking at Banff, that was the largest audience I’ve stood before.  It was intimidating, I don’t exactly enjoy being on the spot like that, I’m not naturally comfortable on stage and would much rather be behind the scenes, BUT with the help of some cold beers, a super, super supportive (and responsive) crowd and the back up of Sean McColl and Will Stanhope I was more than happy to share some of my climbing stories with the viewers.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  The highlight for me (besides laughing my ass off all night) being Timothy Emmett’s film on his Welsh 8c project.  Way too much fun.  Can’t wait to go there one day and have a shot at it.  looks nails.

On a side note, I want to share a public apology released a few days ago on the Patagonia Blog.  Patagonia is a rare company indeed, and time and time and time again when I see how they lead by example, it makes me proud to be working for them, associated with them and I will continue to be a long time user of their products and follower of their stories for as long as they create them.  No matter what.

Comments

Kudos for admitting the mistake. Many companies wouldn’t.

if i remember correctly, the caption on that photo said something about climbing 6,000 vertical feet to get to that point. that’s pretty much BS… unless that dude starting riding his back from the seattle waterfront.

Agreed. It could have been really easy to keep that quiet.  On a personal note — When I saw that photo I swore I knew the trail and would have wagered money that it was the classic Ranger creek/palisades trail — a bike friendly trail. I guess not.

Just wanted to say that, as a marketing professional myself, I find it really really awesome that a company will own up when it is appropriate, and take steps to correct mistakes in an honest way — after all we are only human. Handled well. I am already a loyal fan, but this solidifies it even more!

This isnt really a big deal. Formally its a bad deal to be on the trail on a bike, but lets face it, from a damage perspective a horse will do more damage to the environment. In the UK trails are defined as ‘walkers only’ or ‘bike and horse’.  Patagonia are cool to put their hands up, but i think its being blown out of perspective a bit.

The Wilderness Act’s exclusion of bikes is unfortunate. As a mountain biker living in an area with rather limited riding opportunities and a fair amount of designated wilderness, it’s been hard for me to support new wilderness when it threatens to close some of the few trails we can ride. As for allowing horses in wilderness areas and excluding bikes, well, that makes no sense whatsoever. Horses are far harder on trails, creeks and camping areas than bikers.

As a mountain biker, I’m glad Wilderness areas are closed to bikes, which includes much of my backyard area. That’s where I go trail running instead. And it’s great not to have to dodge cyclists yelling “Training! Clear please!” all the time. True, horses do somewhat more damage, but you’ll never keep “a man and his horse” outta Murikan Wilderness. Too much symbolism and cowboy myth…for the moment anyway.   But the fault here isn’t Patagonia (who’s doing the apologizing), it’s the photog and his model. Unfortuately, there’s a lot of deception going on in the frantic shooter world.

It’s very old-fashioned (in an admirable way) of Patagonia to do the right thing, without focus groups, marketing and PR companies, and all the like. The only unfortunate thing to this whole story is that the rest of the business world doesn’t share the same commitment to ethics.

Hey all,

DO NOT forget to buy your tickets to the red carpet, and very prestigious closing ceremony of the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival. Tonight the 28th, they got American Cedar Wright, (amongst other bad asses) he’s hilarious, he’s from Boulder (isn’t everybody) and he’ll be ripping it up on stage.  Tomorrow the 29th, is Canadian boy wonders Will Stanhope and Sean McColl, both of whom are angelic products of the Edge Junior Team in North Vancouver.  Sean is a World Cup competitor and has performed better than any Canadian ever on the competition circuit across Europe, while Will comes from a different angle all together, he gets his kicks from climbing big walls and big peaks from BC to Argentina. and they might even let me say a few words to – if I’m lucky.  Join in the fun, the beer is always cold, Will is always drunk and the girls are forever young.  For a taste of Cedar’s laid back and super chill attitude, check out this clip of him being filmed high above some testicle shrinking void.  I haven’t done any high-lining myself yet, it looks CRAZy though, and they say your mind must be like steel trap.  Or check out this clip of Will Stanhope  from Alias Cinemas doing some crazy bouldering and the classic Flight of the Challenger here in Squamish.   Iz gonna be a sicky film I reckon.   Anyway, see you tomorrow night.

Will Stanhope from Alex Lavigne – ALIAS CINEMA on Vimeo.

Ah Burning Man, the hot desert festival that everyone wants to go to (but most people just say they do so they’ll sound cool, but really who cares about the latest in synthetic drug technology?  And we’ve all seen lots of naked people before, so there’s little need to go all the way down to the dry dusty inferno,  just to have a fire dance and wear goggles in the night, I can do that in my backyard any day of the week, there’s heaps of better things to do with time and money right?  Like going to Hueco for example)  but nonetheless hoards of leather-headed hippies head south, or north, and release their death grip on what they think is reality and party likes it’s 1969.  Sounds like fun.  Honestly.

Cage dancing.  I’ve done a little – remember Dave?  That time we got all fucked up at Mont Tremblant in Quebec and there were those cute girls who wanted us to cage dance with them?  Or at least that’s how I remember it.  Well, cage dancing is a big part of the festivities it Burning Man, that part sounds like fun too, but what doesn’t sound like fun is the safety harness they’ll make you wear. Read this caption from their website, thehammockhangout.com and then take a close look at the last photograph.  KILLER funny.  I stumbled upon this site tonight while trying to find a picture for my upcoming slide show entitled, ” The Ultimate Extreme Vertical Epic Adventure of All Time Carnival”.  It’s going to be radical in every direction.  But nevermind that, check this out and have a good night…

“The cage will be 42 feet off the ground on top of the main center pole. To get there you will need to climb a rope ladder through the center opening of the parachutes.  It will be very ‘hairy’ to climb to the top so we will strictly limit access. Since safety comes third in the list of hundreds of things that are important at Burning Man–just after costumes, of coarse–there was some extra safety equipment that required. The first being 3/8″ steel airplane cables to replace the rope guide wires.  We will also be top-roping everyone who climbs up the rope ladder just in case. Once the climber reaches the crow’s nest he/she can clip in to a safety strap attached to the cage. That is what the second carabiner is for in the photo.”

The tent of a thousand hammocks.  The sensor of four dirty specks.

This will be your Industrial Rigor for the evening.  Don’t worry, he’s a professional.  Just look at all that rope, but whatever you do, don’t look at his ginch.

Well at least they got airplane cables and a 3/8’s – bolt/nut combination.  That should hold reeel good.

Hey wait a minute, is this set up ACMG approved?   Is that spectra I see?   Sweeet.

So I got BIG news, and BIGGER news, (which may not be either for some of you “internet enthusiasts”:)

I’ll start with the big news first, now that it’s “official” and everything, I’d like to announce with great pleasure that I’ll be climbing for Black Diamond Equipment from here on out.  In France when these sorts of changes happen, they get covered by ‘International Press Releases’, and Joe Schmoe Francois would be sitting down tomorrow morning with his fresh baguette and reading about it in the French Newspaper (that is, if it hasn’t gone bankrupt yet).  But here in the Great White North, of Canadia, we don’t have paper, or press, so we just crack open a cold beer, update our blogs, throw another log on the fire and call it a day.!!

As many of you know, previously I have been working with Petzl USA, since 2004, who will forever remain very close friends of mine, and who distribute some of the finest climbing gear on the market no doubt.  But over the years my style and interest and climbing objectives have shifted, and I find myself relating more and more to BD,  as a company in itself, and for all the gear they work so hard to make perfect.  I’ve been using black diamond cams for well over 10 years, most notably the bigger sizes (because in 2005 and 2006 I got a set of small Aliens for free), but I’ve been known to borrow some .75’s here and there for some good ‘ol Indian Creek specials as well. I’m sorry, but there’s just no denying the smooth action and fierce holding power of the camalot.

I look very forward to the opportunity of using Black Diamond gear exclusively, and to try my hardest in breaking it if I can.  Which means bigger falls, smaller gear, higher expectations.  It’s going to be loads of fun.  Thanks to everyone at BD for making me feel at home.

So the BIGGER news is that the highly respected, highly talented and highly entertaining superstar Adam Ondra, will also be joining the Black Diamond Global Team.  This is exciting, hopefully with such great support and a greater network of climbers we will start to see what this wonder kid is actually capable of.  Imagine if he tried something for more than 3 or 4 days?  Imagine that.  Remember how quickly and easily he did Action Direct, not to mention all the other standard setting F.A’s and repeats.  5.15d?  Now what the hell would THAT look like even?  I’m not sure I want to know, but I like to imagine that it’s possible.

Now lets go climbing.  For more news on Black Diamond, check out their Journal.  It’s SICKY dog.

Okay, so what’s new these days?  Not much and a lot.  I’m happy to report that the rain has eased off considerably since last week, but we still get enough wet spells here in Squamish that it’s impossible to rock climb.  YET.  Maybe this Sunday.

But it’s okay with me either way because I’ve had a bit of pain in my lower back for a while now, (which is hilarious because if you read my rant before christmas you’ll probably think I’m an over sensitive tart, which I am,  but the truth is, if it was all good all the time I wouldn’t have anything to say, so even though it’s nothing serious, I’m sharing my experience anyway) and after seeing some physio’s I have a really good grasp of what I need to do in order to get back onto the horse (so to speak).  It’s not unbearable by any means, (I did go to the gym last night, and felt strong, but don’t tell my doctor) but basically she says it’s getting tighter and tighter, and without the help of some professionals, I could be all bent out of shape permanently by the time I’m 45.  What they are basically telling me is that since I’ve lived such an “active” lifestyle for so long (some call it having a youth, I call it doing stupid shit since I was 11) regardless, I’ve had so many mini trauma’s that my lower back muscles have contracted too tightly in order to protect it all.  The real problem is that I’ve never really let the injuries heal and therefore my muscles have never really let go, or settled.  This sort of chronic tension is creating a ripple throughout my nervous system which creates the sensation of pain, even if my muscles aren’t worked as much I think they should be.  Does that make sense?  I’m getting some body work done at the moment, IMS is amazing, and deep tissue massage as well.  One day at week at the chiro and I’ll be jumping off 20 foot highballs again in no time.  Everyone told me 30 was when the injuries start catching up, they were bang on.  But it’s completely reversible, and it’s nothing serious, I just need to put in the time and energy.  This whole world is about balance I’m learning, and if we don’t take the time to balance out the choices we make, we’re likely going to pay for them sometime down the road.  If you’re really young now, please trust me.  That means your body, your diet, your bank account, your relationships, everything, the whole lot.  If you don’t take your vitamins everyday, or stretch everyday, or set aside a small savings budget everyday, or tell your partner how much they mean to you, you’ll end up broke, broken, and lonely. ha ha ha.  Okay, it probably won’t be that bad – but you know what I mean.  Spread the love.

Also, I’m sad to report I won’t be going to Patagonia like I had originally planned.  Which is more than okay, because it was pretty tight financially for both my partner Jesse and I.  We both feel a bit better for not going.  Besides, (and not to rub it in) but those guys down there are having a terrible season so far, lots and lots of snow, lots of bouldering and very little alpine climbing.  So we’re not missing much I guess. So far.

On the up side, and on the home front, The Grand Wall Climbing Co-Op changed all it’s holds around, we spent all day Sunday cleaning holds and resetting the walls, so they are fresh and good to go. So stoked.  I’ve been climbing with Tim Emmett from England a bit lately and we’re in the process of planning a mini trip down to Chihuahua, Mexico.  We’d like to climb the 2800 ft El Gigante if we could.  But Feb is the land of short days and long nights so there’s no guarantee.  Tim wants to base jump from the summit if we make it.  That would be SOOOOO sick.  I really hope everything falls into place on this one.  Okay, that’s it for now.  PEACE.!!  Enjoy the clip from Mehico.

The news about Haiti still devastates me,  all of us I’m sure.  But it seems (at least) as though action is being taken and I find some peace in knowing that.  For every crushing tale there is always a positive one to follow it.  The world is a cruel place no doubt, the weather, the ocean, the mountains, they have no mercy,  no control.  It’s both tragic and beautiful that we must live in a world without rules or warning, scientists can do everything they can, but still accidents will happen, humans will suffer, that’s the way it’s always been, and it always will be.  It doesn’t make it easier though.  The best we can do is just that, send love, send hope, send money and send people.  But also, we must be thankful for what we have, be grateful, to yourself and towards others,  because we are not special people, we are merely lucky to be alive right now, that’s it.  Lucky to have not just anything, but everything.

So onto other thoughts, perhaps an uplifting climbing note is in order, (and speaking of unpredictable weather), I want to tell you how SHIT it’s been here this week in Squamish.  Holy Crap-o-la.  We got some serious rain fall.  There was even a flood warning in the forecast, which thankfully passed.  Now, like any mountain town, there is sun on the horizon, this evening was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and tomorrow I’m willing to bet is a CLIMBING DAY.  And the real truth of it is, in two weeks time, this Monsoon Season will be over and it’ll be February again, the WORLDS BEST BOULDERING is about to begin.

So, here’s a tip, if you live in Vancouver, Seattle, Whistler, OR, you’re just passing through on vacation or business, be sure to check the weather forecast and bring your shoes up with you when you come, there’s always some locals in the forest.  If you’re not sure which web-site to check, try WWW.SQUAMISHWEATHER.COM .  They have a LINKS page with all the different reputable websites on the net.  With a few clicks of the mouse, you can paint a VERY accurate picture of how the day will turn out.  Also, there’s a  WEB CAM on the way.  This means we can all see ‘up to the minute’ pictures of the Chief and down the Howe Sound.  This is going to be AWESOME.  Even if you live in Squamish, a dark basement suite in the corner of Valleycliff, you can just click on the link, or the RSS FEED and it’ll notify you with updates and pretty pictures of the big rock in all its glory.

Until next time – Happy Climbing to all of you!   And my warmest wishes and deepest sympathy’s to the people of Haiti, I think it’s time for another trip to the bank.

Sonnie.