I wasn’t born in the mountains, but little by little, they pulled me in.   My life changed forever on the day we loaded up our rental car and drove west from Calgary on a once-in-a-life-time trip for this snowboarding teenager from the small hills of Ontario.  Taking in the views as much as we could, my dad behind the wheel slowly rounded each bend, and as we entered the Bow Valley, the soaring mountains seemed to swallow us up.  Soon there was no horizon, only white jagged peaks in every direction. I had never felt more at home. I didn’t know it then, but I fell deeply in love ..read more

Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved adventure films, my cousin and I literally grew up on them, as they always kept us inspired through most of the dark and colder months of the year. In the summertime, I would climb every tree, jump every fence, and swing from every rope I could, imagining I was those superhero’s and living out their exploits on my family farm. It’s probably no wonder that when I first saw climbing at an early age, I was immediately drawn to it, it basically encompasses everything I love about those films. Rock climbing takes us to the most amazing places around the ..read more

On September 10, 2017, Sonnie Trotter realized his dream of completing 3 different alpine 5.14 routes in the Canadian Rockies. A dream that began in 2011 when Sonnie invited Tommy Caldwell to Canada on a mission to investigate the free climbing potential on the North/East face of Mount Louis. Sonnie and Tommy braved blizzards, rain, and a freezing cold night on the summit to complete the route, dubbing it “The Shining” at a grade of 5.13+ /wp-content/uploads/2018/02/89093707.mp4 But “The Shining” was just the start of the dream. The second piece of the puzzle came together in September, 2013 w ..read more

In January of 2009, after a 9-month battle (and 30 years since the First Aid Ascent) ‘The Ewbank Route’ on the iconic Totem Pole saw all 4 of its original pitches climbed free by two local talents, Doug McConnel, and Dean Rollins. The Tasmanian classic went at 27 (or 5.12d in Yosemite terms), and Planet Mountain wrote: “the two climbers were the first to point out that their style could be greatly improved upon as they freed the individual pitches over separate days, and pitches 2 and 3 were separated by a hanging belay. Those aspiring to climb the line in a single push should be aware that t ..read more

Hey All,  I sincerely hope you’ll consider joining me for some great short movies and a few pictures about my most recent traveling and climbing exploits.  I’ll be talking about the importance of respecting our crags, optimism, partnerships, as well as highlighting climbing trips to Germany, Tasmania, and my new summer project here in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.  Afterwards there’s a Q&A, which I really enjoy, and there’s always a few prizes, drinks and snacks.  Everyone Welcome.  Expect a healthy dose of German teasing:)  Hope to see you there… Victori ..read more

My climbing partner @tomhwright had a tough skin day today up on the mountain – Tom is a bit of a super hero. After my previous partner bailed early this morning, Tom woke up from his warm, cozy bed and offered to support me on my second ground up mission to free the 8 pitch Prow Wall in 5 years. After 5 days of work this month, rapping, bolting, scrubbing, trimming, fixing and jugging, I was ready to finally put this thing to bed. We made it to the crux pitch (#4) by noon and on my third attempt, I linked through the boulder problem and onward upward toward the headwall. We topped out the 20 ..read more

Greetings from Spain, it’s been a while since I’ve had the time to sit down and write anything substantial.  I’ve been more busy this year than ever before with family life, climbing, hang boards, traveling, training and taking pictures, and whatever spare time I do find, I usually fall asleep, ha ha.  But, today I found a spare moment to post the full Rock and Ice interview by Chris Parker for the feature “What I’ve Learned”.  R&I always edit down their interviews to make them fit nicely into the pages of the magazine, so I’m grateful to have permission to share the uncut v ..read more

After a 15 year hiatus from Siurana, Spain, Sonnie Trotter returns to spend 6 days and over a dozen attempts to send the classic spanish test piece, Estado Critico (5.14d/9a). Estado Critico is a 40m testpiece in the El Pati sector of Siurana. The first ascent was made by Ramon Julian in 2004. Sonnie writes “Project SENT!!! WHOA—WHAT an amazing feeling. I honestly can’t express how shocked and relieved I am. At first, I thought it was going to be impossible for me (as I was barely able to hold the holds), BUT it is incredible what a motivating climbing partner, Blutrich Ofer, a supporting wife ..read more

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In 1975 three Rockies legends scoured The Bow Valley in search of the next great aid line. At the time, they were preparing themselves for a very early repeat of the Shield on El Capitan in Yosemite, and hoped to find the perfect training ground close to home. The Shield is a thin, technically challenging seam, and the three local boys (found in this photo below), finally discovered what they thought would be the ideal line, a rare and steep splitter finger crack on a blank wall. Unfortunately a snow storm prevented them from reaching the crack itself, and they retreated from the second p ..read more