Sonnie Trotter Climbs a New Squamish 5.14a

Trotter opened King Lear at Paradise Wall near the end of last year, a new video featuring the FA just dropped

Gripped February 25, 2024

In fall 2023, Sonnie Trotter made the first ascent of King Lear in Paradise Valley in Squamish. The new line is a link-up of two routes: Young King Dave is a 5.14c that was prepped by Scott Milton and Queen Bee is a 5.13c by Stewart Hughes – watch a send of Queen Bee by Braden Bester here.

Trotter has been one of North America’s leading climbers for over two decades. In 1999, he appeared in Gripped’s first issue – read about it here, and between his notable first ascents around the world he opened some of Squamish’s most classic test-pieces, including Superman 5.14c in 2002, Cobra Crack 5.14 trad in 2006, Sugar Daddy 514a in 2010 and the eight-pitch Prow Wall 5.14 in 2016. Watch him make the first ascent of The Path at Back of the Lake here.

Simon Yamamoto was on hand to document the first ascent of King Lear by Trotter, watch below.