"He [Sonnie Trotter] led Requiem super smoothly in warm sunny low friction conditions. He placed two bits of gear from ...the bottom of the route, climbed the crack placing four bits of gear, stopping to chalk-up occasionally. At the end of the crack he spent a few minutes shaking-out, complaining of being pumped but didn't ever look anything but solid. He then place three further bits of gear one just at his feet and the two final bits including (presumably) the famous RP and continued to the top in fine style."

Requiem is the original crack-line that Rhapsody breaks out from. Graded E8 6b and first climbed in 1983 by Dave Cuthbertson, Requiem is reportedly Fr 8a+ in physical difficulty which would make it one of the hardest routes in the world to be climbed at that time.

Trotter is over to attempt Dave Macleod's super-route Rhapsody and seems to be making good progress. Trotter also rates the chances of some of our home grown heroes:

From Sonnie's Blog:

"I say guys like Steve McClure and James Pearson are perfect candidates, they are light and strong. I'm about 165 which is nearly 12 Stone and I'm a tad bit worried about the additional distance I will travel on the fall, not to mention the extra force I am putting on those small wires. I brought four Screamers with me, to help reduce the violence on the gear."

With the weather looking set to be perfect we are all wishing Sonnie the best of luck with his attempts on Rhapsody.