rhapsody repeated
Online News Article
Photo by: www.hotaches.com
"After 4 and a half HOT and sunny weeks, 14 enduring days, 24 fifty foot falls, 47 snickers bars, and 113 emails to Lydia, I finally made the second ascent of Rhapsody," stated Sonnie Trotter in his blog.
The line, put up in 2006 by Dave MacLeod, is the first route in Great Britain to be graded E11 (about 5.14c R). It took the Scottish climber 70 days over the course of two years to complete the line up Dumbarton Rock.
The route is essentially a 5.13c/d into a V10/V11 crux which spat Trotter out for a fifty-foot fall two dozen times during the attempt.
Sonnie Trotter kept track of his struggle in his blog. During his trip, he wrote extensively about the difficulties and the joys of working the line, likening the climb to a boxing match with rounds continuing to the finish.
He continued the 1983 route Requiem (5.13c) up a direct line, calling the first ascent Direquiem (5.14a R), but wasn't satisfied. He wanted Rhapsody. Though it's an eliminate line, he wrote, "Dave presented us all with a challenge. A challenge to climb this sequence of holds and until someone does, that challenge will always remain."
"The only rule is don't bail left to the arete, (a cop out) stay on the face and the line is very much obvious," he wrote of the line.
On the edge of giving up, Trotter's friend Will Gadd managed to raise funds from private fans to keep the attempt alive. The climbing community struck again.
On June 9, Trotter sent the route.
Source: www.sonnietrotter.com/roadlife.php
The line, put up in 2006 by Dave MacLeod, is the first route in Great Britain to be graded E11 (about 5.14c R). It took the Scottish climber 70 days over the course of two years to complete the line up Dumbarton Rock.
The route is essentially a 5.13c/d into a V10/V11 crux which spat Trotter out for a fifty-foot fall two dozen times during the attempt.
Sonnie Trotter kept track of his struggle in his blog. During his trip, he wrote extensively about the difficulties and the joys of working the line, likening the climb to a boxing match with rounds continuing to the finish.
He continued the 1983 route Requiem (5.13c) up a direct line, calling the first ascent Direquiem (5.14a R), but wasn't satisfied. He wanted Rhapsody. Though it's an eliminate line, he wrote, "Dave presented us all with a challenge. A challenge to climb this sequence of holds and until someone does, that challenge will always remain."
"The only rule is don't bail left to the arete, (a cop out) stay on the face and the line is very much obvious," he wrote of the line.
On the edge of giving up, Trotter's friend Will Gadd managed to raise funds from private fans to keep the attempt alive. The climbing community struck again.
On June 9, Trotter sent the route.
Source: www.sonnietrotter.com/roadlife.php
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