Making A New Multi-pitch Route

Sonnie Trotter’s story of the 5 days he and a friend spent cleaning and preparing a new 1,200 foot 5.9 route on Squamish. He did it as a gift to other climbers. I like this quote:

“The work was tedious, as any new route developer will tell you. Sometimes it consisted of shifting boulders or removing a 20-foot long root system. At other times, we were on our hands and knees with a toothbrush, scrubbing the stubborn lichen from the rock.  I can understand why other climbers wonder why we invested so much time and effort. But we did have fun - level-2 style. For whatever reason, this climb was more gratifying than most routes I can recall in 15 years of climbing.”