Sonnie Trotter adds Family Man to Skaha Bluffs in Canada

Located at the beautiful granite crag Skaha Bluffs, the new route climbs a thin roof crack that overhangs circa 50° and includes a tricky, run-out finish. Trotter came up trumps after a mere 8 days of practice, placing the first five pieces of gear from a decent crimp, before down climbing to rest and then committing to the top of the route. While the most difficult moves are well protected, Trotter told Planetmountain that he was "unable to stop on the last 1/3 to place any gear" and was therefore forced to make a "wee runout", from which falling is not a good option, to get to the anchors.

Trotter's ascent is interesting for he believes Family Man may well be his hardest trad climb to date. This certainly means something, as notable first trad ascents include the classic Cobra Crack at Squamish, freed in 2006 and recognised as being one of the hardest crack climbs in the world. While in 2006 he made the first ascent of The Path at Lake Louise, in 2008 he made a swift second ascent of Rhapsody, the testing route put up by Dave MacLeod in 2006 at Dumbarton Rock in Scotland, considered to be Britain's hardest trad climb at the time.