UKC

The Prophet on El Capitan for Sonnie Trotter

© Sonnie Trotter Collection
Sonnie Trotter on The Prophet, El Capitan  © Sonnie Trotter Collection
Sonnie Trotter on The Prophet, El Capitan
© Sonnie Trotter Collection
Canadian climber Sonnie Trotter has made the second ascent of Leo Houlding's El Cap swan song The Prophet (E9, 500m). But the route didn't go down easily.

I think it was the most savage and satisfying rock climb of my life.  One of the hardest routes I have ever done.  My first El Cap route ever.  And I'm glad it's over.

Sonnie Trotter repeats The Prophet

Trotter was climbing with fellow Canadian Will Stanhope, who managed the whole route except the infamous 'A1 Beauty' pitch, for which he has vowed to return.

The pair initially attempted the route ground up, and completed much of the route in this style. They eventually abseiled in to inspect some of the upper pitches.

Trotter and Stanhope then climbed the route in a continuous push over 3 days, completing the final pitches after the 'A1 Beauty' by headtorch.

Trotter is no stranger to hard and dangerous climbing, having completed many hard trad test-pieces the world over, including an extended stay in Scotland to climb Dave MacLeod's Dumbarton line Rhapsody (E11).

  • Trotter has been blogging about The Prophet on his website.

RELATED VIDEO: Leo Houlding on The Prophet

 


Sonnie Trotter has several sponsors including: Patagonia, Five Ten, Black Diamond, Sterling Rope

 


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22 Nov, 2011
Brilliant effort by both guys! I hope Will goes back and gets it next year!
22 Nov, 2011
I'm guessing you are deliberately ignoring Sonnie's modest assertion which characterises the ascent as a “failure” in the hope that and interesting ethic debate brews. This may be far too subtle an approach as, I fear the prevailing ethic as pointed out by Franco on the other thread, is unknown to a lot of us. I’m thinking confusion will ensue when trying to reconcile the UKC headline with Sonnie’s blog. Let’s have a new headline, “Sonnie let down big style by fellow canadian Glad”. :¬)
22 Nov, 2011
I don't read Sonnie's blog as saying that he failed, I read it as saying he succeeded. Don't know whether he's conformed to the '1 person leads all pitches free' thing or has just freed all of them, with some of the others being on second. I don't get the impression he feels he needs to go back to 'finish' anything, but that Will does.
22 Nov, 2011
Yeah, on re-reading you are correct. I think I misunderstood the, "5 weeks in the Valley, 5 failed ground up attempts" statement. I could have sworn it had suggested a "team" failure...
22 Nov, 2011
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