ClimbingNarc.com

A couple of interesting new sponsorship signings for Patagonia and Black Diamond

Sonnier Trotter Soloing Bizmark (5.13b)

Via Jamie Chong’s blog comes word that Canadian Will Stanhope has done the 2nd all gear ascent of the iconic East Face (5.13d) of the Monkey Face at Smith Rocks, OR.

Not a whole lot going on this past week on the spray front.  Here are a few interesting links to help get you to the weekend:

Sonnie Trotter has an excellent discussion taking place on his blog about whether top climbers are born with genetic gifts or if they developed their skills through hard work and [...]

News & Notes on Sonnie Trotter, Ethan Pringle, tribute to Todd Skinner, the Caldwell’s and more…

Peep this story from Scotland where Sonnie Trotter (in town working E11 trad route Rhapsody) helped rescue a ‘Non-Educated Delinquent’  Scottish youth when said youth climbed higher than he felt comfortable downclimbing and became stuck.

Based on the high level of interest in the list of potential V14 and harder boulder problems in North America, I thought it would be a good idea to try and assemble a similar list of Routes. To illustrate a certain point, I will limit the list to routes proposed 5.14d-ish or harder. [...]

“Pilgrimage”, the Big Up movie featuring Chris Sharma and Katie Brown bouldering in Hampi, India, inspires anyone who watches it to dream of one day climbing in India. Unfortunately, getting there is both expensive and time consuming. Sonnie Trotter, who lately has achieved notoriety for his hard trad exploits that include FAs of [...]

In June 2006, Sonnie Trotter made the first free ascent of Cobra Crack (5.14) in Sqamish, BC placing all the gear on lead.  While it may or may not be the hardest trad climb in the world, it certainly has to involve the most painful and difficult finger locks one can imagine.