I’ve never climbed at Lake Louise, climbed Wicked Gravity, tried the Path or climbed any sort of quartzite of any type, anywhere.  Some might say I don’t have a leg to stand on, and they might be right.

All I can say is this: Sonnie did something bold and cool and progressive.  How many times do we go to the same old crags, do the same old routes and do the same old thing.  Boring.  It’s exciting to see someone take things to the next level, get psyched on a long standing project and send the whole shebang in one go, bottom to top.  It gets me psyched, and if you have a pulse, it should get you psyched as well.

So get excited: coil the rope, charge the drill or rack up the rps- it doesn’t really matter.  Get riled up and dream big.  THAT is what matters- not the aimless ethical dickering that leads nowhere.

Will

For All You non-believers!
http://sonnietrotter.com/roadlife.php

Like he said… its just climbing!

Wall Crawler–

The route has some marginal gear and serious runouts.  We might say his style was headpointing, a common tactic used by the Brits (etc) on their desperate grit routes.  Toprope it, then lead it on whatever gear is there.  The sheer danger and desperation of the send makes up for the top-roping aspect.

Some interesting points he made on that link above, and mostly all valid ones too I feel; I couldn’t argue with any of it, especially this part referring to this site I believe:

Although I do appreciate the comments (all of them) I
still find it amazing that people want to express
their opinions about a particular line they likely
know very little about.

Unfortunately, it happens alot, especially on this site.  People would be better to not post anything, unless it is totally accurate, and holds alot of truth.  Instead, people who know little, or don’t know someone will imply that they do, and consequently make up all sorts of nonsense about them; or they post false information about themselves, maybe to make themselves look good, but instead it tends to make them look foolish.

Headpointing came about in the UK because of the strict anti-bolting ethic on grit and the UK mountain crags. The notion of no-bolts evolved during a time when adventure and traditional climbing were the only climbing options available. With a seemingly endless number of obvious gear routes, the no-bolts ethic seemed like a good idea as it preserved the natural lines and promoted the adventure spirit prominent at the time. Fast-forward a few decades. Suddenly all the obvious gear lines have been done and all that is left are the blank faces between the real gear routes. In North America this period coincided with the introduction of sport climbing tactics borrowed from Europe and the evolution of sport climbing. In the UK however, dogma prevented the use of bolts and the only option available to many climbers was rehearsing the remaining lines on top-rope, finding the gear on rappel and after extensive practice leading the route. Eventually climbers in the UK realized these tactics were dissimilar to traditional gear climbing and the term headpointing was devised to distinguish this climbing style from traditional ground up gear routes. In the UK headpointing allowed for new route activity to continue while preserving a no-bolt ethic. In North America, we were somewhat more open-minded than our UK friends. After a brief bolting war period in the late 80s and early 90s, things settled down with almost everyone agreeing that obvious crack lines should be left as traditional gear ascents while blank featureless faces are fair game for bolts and top-down tactics.

This approach had two significant benefits. First, it served the needs two very different climbing user groups by preserving ground-up traditional gear climbing while allowing for bolted routes. Secondly and more importantly, it maximized the use of a finite resource - the rock. Only a certain type of rock is ideal for ground up traditional climbing. The ethic in North America of not bolting cracks preserves this limited rock feature. Sport climbing also requires a specific rock type (primarily featureless faces lacking in obvious protection). Unfortunately, headpointing takes these sections of stone and wastes them on a climbing style that is not understood or accepted in North America. To be clear, i am not talking about difficult crack lines that are rehearsed before being redpointed (eg. Cobra Crack, La Zebree.) Although these routes were rehearsed before being successfully redpointed, they can eventually be climbed in the ground-up onsight style prized in North America. These routes are difficult but the lines do not require headpoint tactics to find the holds, unlock the movement and figure out the gear. Headpoint routes attempt to impose traditional protection practices on routes lacking substantial gear and obvious movement by employing extensive sport climbing tactics such as top rope rehearsal, figuring the gear on top rope and route finding on tope rope. The final product is some bastard child of traditional and sport climbing contributing little to most existing North American crags.

With climbing maturing as a sport, first ascentionists need to consider what their routes add to an area. Just as bolting a crack line removes the opportunity for someone to experience traditional climbing, headpointing in North America eliminates what could be a significant sport line.

Sonnie is a very talented climber with an incredible tick-list of hard climbs.
Is the The Path a difficult route?
Absolutely.
Does it add to the local climbing scene?
I don’t know.

I am however enjoying this debate.