Watch Sonnie Trotter on the FA of Cobra Crack 5.14

This week marked the 14th anniversary of Sonnie Trotter’s first ascent of Cobra Crack 5.14 in Squmiash. It took around 40 goes over a number of years. The 30-metre splitter crack had been aided by Peter Croft in the 1980s and had been attempted by top climbers such as Didier Berthod.

In an interview with Gripped in 2006, Trotter said: “Cobra is 30 meters long, with the crux pulling over the lip around the two-thirds mark. It involves huge dynamic throws between one- and two-finger locks; pain is ever-present, and the mental crux is overlooking the pain move after move.

“The redpoint crux comes over the lip on a slippery side pull; the feet are next to nothing, and it takes momentum and a huge throw to latch the final edge, at which point you’re about 15 to 20 feet about your last piece of gear—it’s really exciting.”

Watch the original film which had been uploaded to the Patagonia YouTube channel for years, but can now be found on Trotter’s.

Cobra Crack Sends
2006 – Sonnie Trotter (Canada)
2008 – Nicolas Favresse (Belgium)
2008 – Ethan Pringle (USA)
2008 – Matt Segal (USA)
2009 – Will Stanhope (Canada)
2009 – Yuji Hirayama (Japan)
2011 – Alex Honnold (USA)
2013 – Pete Whittaker (UK)
2013 – Tom Randall (UK)
2016 – Ben Harnden (Canada)
2017 – Mason Earle (USA)
2017 – Logan Barber (Australia)
2017 – Said Belhaj (Sweden)

Cobra Crack