24 hours of horseshoe hell is truly an amazing event and a test of mental and physical toughness, there is nothing else like it out there. A grassroots, hometown event executed flawlessly by event coordinators. This was my first trip and a quick one, but along with my partner Brent Perkins, we finished 2nd overall in the team event being taken down by tough conditions and the power team of Sonnie Trotter and Tommy Caldwell. This year over 40 competitors completed over 100 pitches during the 24 hour period. 

Yesterday, Sonnie Trotter made a rare (5th) ascent of Ambrosia V12?  Being the second climber to do it since a major foothold broke,  the first being Enzo Oddo, who claimed the 4th ascent at the tender age of 15 just last year.  The 40 foot super highball was first established by Five Ten athlete Kevin Jorgeson and climbs directly up the south face of the Grandpa peabody boulder.  Here's what Sonnie said in an email today....

BREAKING NEWS: One year after Leo's legendary first ascent of the Prophet (5.13d R), Canadian climbers and fellow Five Ten Athletes, Sonnie Trotter and Will Stanhope climb one of Yosemite’s boldest and hardest free climbs. Sonnie managed to free every pitch, with only 1 fall in all 13 pitches, while Will climbed everything but the final crux clean. An outstanding effort on their part, especially considering this was Sonnie's first El Cap route EVER. The duo spent their birthday’s on the climb (November 15 and 16), starting up on November 14th, what a gift they...

Sonnie and I are still tinkering away on the Prophet. Trotter is leading the charge. I think it’s really interesting to look at how the very best trad climbers operate on the sharp end. I would put Sonnie in a really small group of people I’ve climbed with that are truly built for hard, scary rock climbing. Skill plays a huge part. Strength plays a huge part. But an innate positivity is the biggest factor, I think. When the house of cards begins to collapse for me, I start losing the optimistic edge, and everything seems to spiral towards...

"Do something everyday that scares you". We've all heard this before but let's face it, it's not as easy to do as it sounds. I mean, I scare myself when I look in the mirror every morning, (especially after a long stint on the big stone) does that count? I scare my mother when I tell her I'm climbing the Prophet, but that's not what the advice recommends. It says do something that scares YOU. And it's great advice. We all need to push our boundaries, our context of what's scary, and...

It's important to respect your male climbing partners, some might even have "Man Crushes" for them, which is always flattering, but not entirely necessary. ha ha. And although Will Stanhope (a fellow countryman and Five Ten Athlete) does have a very nice smile and a soft approachable demeanor, I have never considered him a "man crush" before. In fact, I've never had a crush on any of my male climbing partners before. Not to say that they aren't handsome and bad-ass, just that I have never looked at it that way. What I do have for...