That trip opened his eyes and he immediately dedicated himself to climbing. Trotter tried the route 3040 times over three years. Mesa, turning three this year, has spent much of her life on the road with her mom, dad and older brother. Crack climbing is a type of rock climbing in which the climber follows a crack in the rock and uses specialized climbing techniques. Sonnie trotters 1yearold daughter mesa cranks out a 10 second dead hang in preparation for her future v20 sends. Faed by chris sharm in 2005, and climbed the infamous sonnie trotter finger crack, cobra crack 5. Mason earle sends cobra crack in squamish gripped magazine. Follow sonnie trotters instagram account to see all 1,076 of their photos and videos. Cobra crack in squamish is infamous within knarly crack climbing circles. Join us as acmg associate and master climber sonnie trotter shares fun memories and inspiring stories of his 20 years in the vertical sonnie trotter. After coming back year after year, mason finally realized his. The video of americas mason earle climbing cobra crack, one of the hardest crack climbs in the world located at squamish, canada, first ascended by peter croft in. Sonnie trotter is a canadian professional climber, known for his strength in many rock climbing disciplines, contributing to. Cracking cobra mason earle tackles squamishs cobra crack.
Some of the routes that trotter established in canada and europe have never. I was never sure of the grade myself because it was such a unique climb and when you take into account finger size and reach, it became clear that a grade was nothing more than useless. Trotter has more about the stingray send, including pictures from andrew burr, in his latest blog post. Sonnie trotter was 18 when he first traveled to rifle, colorado. Rock climb cobra crack, british columbia mountain project.
Her dad is a pro climber, known for being the first canadian to climb 5. Sonnie trotter, first trad ascent of prosthetics at mill. He climbed it 3040 times over a couple of years, before finally doing the first traditional ascent. Trotter is widely known for his first ascent of cobra crack, perhaps the worlds most coveted finger crack climb, but he enjoys mixing up all styles of climbing as much as possible from bouldering and sport climbing to traditional routes, big walls and even the occasional alpine route. Mason earle has climbed squamishs pride and joy, cobra crack 5. Cobra has been repeated just ten times since including will stanhope in 2009. I climbed a project of mine which i was really happy about. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with sonnie trotter. This is a short clip about a local kick ass climber from the dnv whos attempting to be the fifth person to climb the one and only cobra. This film focuses on masons eight years of attrition, and captures his changing motivations over time from simply wanting to beat alex honnold to an ascent, to eventually wanting to climb the route for himself.
Its a beautiful bit of climbing, really controlled and technical, with lots of finger jamming. Im not trying to be rude, but id sincerely love to hear a climbing perspective from someone who hasnt heard of the cobra crack. Thirty year old sonnie trotter from canada recently travelled to mill creek in utah where he carried out the first trad ascent of prosthetics 5. Patagonia climbing ambassador sonnie trotter climbed the first free ascent of cobra crack 5. Mason tried this 8c in squamish first time in 2008, two years after sonnie trotter first ascent. One of the best rock climbs in the world without question. Cobra crack sends 2006 sonnie trotter canada 2008 nicolas favresse belgium. The video of americas mason earle climbing cobra crack, one of the hardest crack climbs in the world located at squamish, canada, first ascended by peter croft in the 80s and freed by sonnie trotter in 2006. Canadian sonnie trotter has made the first ascent of what he believes to be the hardest pure crack climb in the world, cobra crack 5. Sonnie trotter from canada has made the first retrotrad ascent of prosthetics 5. Resolved in july, cobra crack is one of great performances done by american climber mason earle this summer followed by logan barber and said balhaj ascents.
The first free ascent was a project for a number of climbers until sonnie trotter sent it in 2006. Sonnie trotter, 31, one of the best know canadian climbers, succeeded on his project at squamish, canada, a beautiful but desperately hard overhanging arete. Mason earle sends squamish testpiece cobra crack 5. Best known for his intrepid ascent of squamishs cobra crack 5. Trotter attempted the 100foot finger crack more than 30 times over three years before completing it allfree, placing his pro on the lead, according to. Mason earle redpointed cobra crack in squamish in july, becoming the 11th person to do it, after sonnie trotter succeeded in 2006. Thats only one person per year, succeeding on one of the most difficult trad lines in the world. The first ascent was in the 1980s by peter croft who aid climbed it. Just out of curiosity what sort of climbing media do you follow whats your relationship with the sport. Its hosted a number of battles over the years, but mason earles is perhaps the only war. Canadas own sonnie trotter has freed one of the most coveted crack testpieces in north america, squamishs cobra crack. Logan barber makes 12th ascent of cobra crack gripped. Situated high up on the flanks of the chief in squamish, this line was known as possibly one of the worlds most difficult cracks for. Cobra crack is the most beautiful crack in the world, and certainly one of the hardest and purest.
The recovery drink and the worlds hardest crack climbs. In his own backyard well, hes from ontario and cobra crack is 1,700 miles away in squamish, british columbia sonnie trotter sent one of the hardest finger cracks in the world. In more recent years, trotter has gained notoriety for his support of clean trad routes over bolted routes, and his first ascent of the cobra crack in squamish, british columbia. Today nicolas from belgium made the coveted second ascent of the cobra crack. Sonnie worked the overhanging, thinfinger crack 3040 times over the past few years, often ropesoloing the route to dial the moves, before completing it allfree. Canadian sonnie trotter completed the first ascent of the muchtried overhanging finger crack in the summer of 2006. In that arena, he is perhaps most wellknown for making the first free ascent of squamishs 37metre cobra crack, widely regarded as the hardest pure crack climb in the world, in 2006. Sonnie also made squamish history in 2006 when he and his climbing partner matt segal connected the shadow 5.
His lists of accomplishments encompass all styles of climbing, from deep water soloing to big walls. Cobra crack is to be found in the cirque of the uncrackables, behind the beautiful granite dome that is the chief. This route, which saw its first ascent in 2006 by sonnie trotter, is a stunning, 120. Cobra crack first climbed free by sonnie trotter two years ago is a perfect finger crack, 30 metres long and situated on the overhanging headwall of the cirque of the uncrackables, squamish chief. It had been attempted by many of the worlds hardest climbers, most recently by swiss crack master didier berthod. The first free ascent was a project for a number of climbers until sonnie trotter sent it. The sizes of cracks vary from those that are just barely wide enough for the fingers to fit inside, to those that are so wide that the entire body can fit.
Favresse, who nabbed the second ascent of sonnie trotters cobra crack in squamish, calls it the hardest hes sent. Its the sort of feature you look up at and wish it had holds on it. For climbs like this, trotter plans every movement carefully, including how he organizes the gear on his harness. Canadian sonnie trotter has redpointed the muchtried cobra crack at squamish, b. According to the email he sent ukclimbing, trotter felt like stingray was the 2nd hardest crack hes climbed with the hardest presumably being squamishs cobra crack. Mason earle has made the 11th ascent of cobra crack 5. First done in the summer of 2006 by sonnie trotter, cobra crack has seen repeats from the likes of nicolas favresse, ethan pringle.
The route, a pristine 30m fingercrack that neatly splits the smooth overhanging granite face, was in origin a peter croft aid route graded a2. On his first try of the day, after many weeks of attempts, will made it higher than ever before, falling off only one or two moves. If you can climb the grade and enjoy cracks then the cobra is or at least should be on your ticklist. Down and dirty with sonnie trotter the cleanest line. Sonnie trotter is one of the worlds most accomplished rock climbers. For 20 years sonnie trotter has pushed the limits of trad, sport and bouldering. Sonnie trotters 2006 clean ascent of cobra crack, a 5.
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