Full video of 2016 IFSC World Cup Bouldering Chongqing FINALS.

We are very psyched to announce that Sonnie Trotter made the first free ascent of The Prow Wall (200m, 5.14a, 8 pitches) yesterday. The line itself runs up the sweeping features of The Prow Wall. The Prow Wall, home to a number of aesthetic lines, is located to the right of Echelon Wall and left across the South Gully of the Chief from the Buttress. Sonnie has spent the last six weeks back in Squamish and he has certainly been busy.

Bolts, hammer, drill, wrench, coffee? Check, check check, check, check!!!!! Nothing like keeping it civilized on a 500 foot wall of granite. Feeling tired, but very happy in Squamish BC @blackdiamond @fiveten_official @patagonia_climb #rocks

A photo posted by @sonnietrotter on Apr 9, 2016 at 8:28am PDT

According to his Instagram, this was Sonnie’s second ground up attempt to free the line over the past five years. The line itself has been an open project tried by many for a number of years and is considered the ‘king line’ of the Prow Wall, which is home to a number of classic lines put up in recent memory by Colin Moorhead, Evan Stevens, Jeremy Blumel and others.

Sonnie reported that he had spent about five days on the rig cleaning and re-cleaning the line. The line is made up of eight pitches in total (5.10c, 5.10b, 5.12a, 5.14a?, 5.11c, 5.13a, 5.12b, and 5.12a). Yesterday, local climber Tom Wright stepped into belay Sonnie during the day to offer his support. Tom recently got back from a trip to Yosemite where he completed a two day ascent of The Nose. Fantastic work!

UPDATE: We had a chance to catch up with Sonnie on the ascent and here is what he had to say.

Congratulations on the ascent! Can you tell us a bit about the line?

Thanks, the line itself is the original line that slices straight up the middle of the (Prow) wall. Originally investigated by Ander’s Ouram, Keith Reid, Graham Taylor, Jesse Brown and a guy named Brent (now deceased), I first tried the line from the ground up about 5 years ago with Jesse Brown. I couldn’t do it but I never forgot about its possibility!

What were you bolting this time around and how much did you work the line solo?

This month, I rappelled in and replaced or moved about 20 bolts and rope soloed the line. Haaving a kid, it’s hard to nail down partners for such an obscure climb. I had so much fun up there by myself, working moves and scrubbing the moss. We’re leaving tomorrow so yesterday was pretty much my last chance to get it done before summer temps make it too hot. It’s very friction dependent. A hard route to grade really. Maybe hard 5.13d or a soft 5.14a. When I first started trying it it felt like a V11 problem. When I sent it, it felt more like V10. I’ll let others decide on the grade I think. For now what’s important is that it’s clean, safe, and ready to be enjoyed by all! It’s a magnificent place to climb, like a mini big wall.

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions and congratulations! I hope the trip back to Canmore is a smooth ride.

Local Vancouverite and guidebook author Rich Wheater recently brought to our attention the proposed development of Cypress Village near the Godman Creek Boulders in West Vancouver, BC. The developers of Cypress Village are looking for input from a number of recreational groups, including climbers, regarding the use of the area surrounding the proposal.

The Godman Creek Boulders, located on the way to Cypress Mountain just of Cypress Bowl rd. in West Vancouver, feature a number of moderate boulder problems very close to the city. The area was first developed by Trent Hoover and will be feature in the new Vancouver Rock Climbing guidebook, due out at the end of this month.

Godman Creek Boulders. Photo by Trent Hoover ©

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Beautifully shot, epic story of alpine climbing on Baffin Island.

For all those who love the history of climbing and training, this is a must watch. Kafe Kraft sit down with legend Jerry Moffatt as they talk about many things including the original campus board and Jerry’s relationship with Wolfgang Gullich. Definitely worth a watch!

We are very excited to have both Sean McColl and Alannah Yip back in the mix for today’s semi-final round at the 2016 IFSC World Cup Bouldering in Kazo, Japan. Here are the links for semi-finals and finals. Semi-finals will start at 5pm pacific time today and Finals will start at 10:20pm pacific time today. Good luck everyone!

Stu Smith climbing ‘All That You Love’ at the UFO Boulders north of Squamish.

Nice video of Dave Macleod climbing Shallow Water to Riverbed (8b+) What an amazing looking boulder. I don’t know about that chalk bag dab though…

The 2016 IFSC World Cup Bouldering season is well on its way and we have a number of Canadian climbers joining the Japan leg of the schedule. Joining Sean McColl, Alannah Yip and Elise Sethna, who are already on the tour, we have Celeste Wall on the Women’s side and Kin Wah Lai and Eric Sethna on the Men’s side. All of these competitors have been very successful nationally and it will be great to see what they got for the international crowd. Although technically not on the Canadian team, we also have Maria Celkova joining the Slovakian team. Good luck everyone!

Below is the live stream for qualifiers, which starts at 530pm pacific.

Another Sharma flick!

This winter, my good friend Joe Kinder and I checked out the beautiful cave in Figols. We heard of a classics route David Gambus put up some years back ad were keen to see what it was all about. More than anything though, it was a great day to get out and climb with a good friend in a beautiful place.