Sonnie Trotter sends new 5.14 and Skaha’s hardest line!
Sonnie Trotter has climbed his project at the Skaha Bluffs near Penticton, B.C. and named it Family Man.
Trotter climbed the 5.14b line on Oct. 21, 2014. Trotter’s been busy balancing his climbing life with being a new father, which doesn’t seem to have slowed him down. Could you think of a more perfect name than Family Man?
Trotter climbs Rockies new 5.12
Trotter, Caldwell and Wharton climb new Sicilian 5.13
He updated his Facebook page with, “This evening, I managed to put to rest a project I started back in March 2014, during a family vacation to Skaha Bluffs. It’s one of the most inspiring roof cracks I have ever seen. Approximately 50 degrees overhanging. My wife Lydia and son Tatum (two months at the time) were the first ones to hike up there and belay me. I was so excited to try the route that I built a top rope anchor off a nearby tree and she happily belayed me harness free, with our boy strapped to her chest.
Today she hiked up again with Tate (now nine months old) on her back to watch my progress, and to all of our surprise, I sent the route on my very first try. Eight days of attempts in all.
It’s an absolutely outstanding climb, one I am extremely proud of, and hope others will find joy in playing around on. I named the route Family Man and I am proposing a grade of soft 5.14b, only because it’s harder than all the 5.14as I did this year, and certainly more committing. But I’m also sleep deprived with swollen finger tips, so who knows where this line will settle. Either way, she sure is a beauty.”
Before Trotter climbed Family Man, the hardest route at Skaha was Nexus-6 on The Belfry Wall, climbed by Kevin Wilkinson in 2010. The classic hard route of the area is Scott Milton’s 5.13d called Replicant.
Check out the latest buyer's guide:
