BURSTIn 2018, Sonnie Trotter made the first ascent of Blackbird 5.14a in Skaha, and he just dropped the footage of his send on YouTube – watch below. Located at Raven’s Castle, it was originally bolted by Adam Tuttle and Cody Leyden, as direct finish to the route Into the Frying Pan.
“Climbing in Skaha has always been so much fun, and a wonderful place for our family to get out to,” said Trotter. “As you can hear in the background, there are many littles ones near and around the crag on this day. This particular cliff is called Raven’s Castle, and after climbing many of the local 5.13d’s I felt this one was a fair notch harder,” said Trotter.
Skaha is one of Canada’s most popular cragging areas, thanks to the warm climate, solid routes, easy access and wide range of grades. Other 5.14s include The Remnant 5.14b, Supernova 5.14a and Nova 6.
Trotter had previously made the first ascent of Family Man, a steep 5.14 trad route in Skaha that you can read more about here. Trotter was one of the world’s leading trad climber in the early 2000s with first ascents of several test-piece climbs, such as Cobra Crack and The Path.
Black Bird FA
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