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Squamish’s Prow Wall and Prow Wall Variation Topos

Sonnie Trotter recently made the first free ascent of The Prow Wall 5.14 on the famous Chief in Squamish. Trotter had worked on the route for a number of days and the project was 20 years old. Tom Wright, who was with Trotter on the first ascent, roped up with Trotter for the first free ascent of a 5.13 variation to The Prow Wall called Written Into the Prow Wall. Below are the write ups and topos from Wright. In an interview with Rock and Ice, Trotter said, “For as long as I’ve been coming to Squamish (16 years) I’ve always stared up at the Prow Wall. It’s super clean, blank and improbable looking. It’s an obvious challenge for any climber. I know climbers have been trying it for about 20 years or so, so I was honoured when one of the original members of the team invited me up there to try it with him.” For the complete interview see here.

The Prow Wall – FA Sonnie Trotter (2016)
Gear: A light rack, 15 quickdraws (some extendable)
Pitch 1 – 5.10c – same opening pitch as Written in Stone (20 m)
Pitch 2 – 5.10b – Instead of scrambling left for Written in Stone – go directly up through trees to find another set of anchors. Belay here and climb up through a mix of cracks turning to face climbing and bolts. You may want some gear to protect the bottom of this pitch. (25 m)
Pitch 3 – 5.12a – An excellent long pitch with tricky face climbing on dyke features. Finish with a cruxy traverse right and up the left facing corner. (35 m)
Pitch 4 – 5.14a – Boulder up through the incredible black wave feature. V10/11. More tricky slab guards the anchor. (20 m)
Pitch 5 – 5.11c – Climb up the right facing corner. (20 m)
Pitch 6 – 5.13a – A fantastic sport pitch of gently overhanging granite that weaves up through many cool features. One of the best of the grade in all of Squamish in an excellent position. (14 bolts, 35 m)
Pitch 7 – 5.12b – It ain’t over yet. Burly moves and small crimps could foil your clean ascent. (9 bolts, 20 m)
Pitch 8 – 5.12a – A sting in the tail? A one move wonder boulder problem guards the top out.  (2 bolts, 7 m)

Written into The Prow Wall – FA Sonnie Trotter, Tom Wright (2016)
A link up that combines the start of Written in Stone with the top of The Prow Wall via the distinct white dyke that cuts across the wall. A great sustained sport climb.
Pitch 1-5 – as for Written in Stone. If you are a confident 5.11 trad climber, a light single rack will suffice. After this, it’s bolts all the way to the top.
Pitch 6 – On The Prowl 5.12c – traverse right across the beautiful white dyke, ending at the base of the 5.13a pitch of The Prow Wall. (10 bolts, 30 m)
Pitch 7-9 – as for The Prow Wall.

Prow Wall topo courtesy of Tom Wright and Quickdraw Publishing.
Prow Wall topo courtesy of Tom Wright and Quickdraw Publishing. Written in Stone 5.11c climbs up the right and the new 5.12c connector pitch is between it and The Prow Wall 5.14. For dozens of great topos and new guidebooks from Quickdraw visit here.

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