The Rockies Trilogy
Two Top Climbers Repeat Three Alpine 5.14s in Alberta
When Sonnie Trotter completed his “alpine trilogy” in the Canadian Rockies of Alberta, he likely never imagined that less than a year later, two of Canada’s top climbers (neither of whom live in Canada) would repeat it. But it happened in the summer of 2018 when Sasha Digiulian and Mike Doyle spent a month in the Bow Valley and sent the three 5.14s, Digiulian first and Doyle a close second. The routes, which are discussed below, climb steep limestone and dolomite, and were all freed by Trotter in order to create the Canadian version of the Alps’ trio of big 5.14s.
The three routes in the European Alps that make up the original alpine trilogy are the 240-metre Des Kaisers neue Kleider
5.14a, which was put up by Germany’s Stefan Glowacz; the six-pitch Silbergeier
5.14a in Switzerland’s Rätikon, established by Beat Kammerlander; and End of Silence an 11-pitch 5.14a in Germany, put up by Thomas Huber. The three routes have only been climbed by a handful of climbers, and together, they are one of Trotter’s climbing goals. But, with a young family and house in Canmore, Trotter opted to open his own trilogy of 5.14 alpine routes close to where he lives. With that in mind, he selected three of the most iconic walls in the Rockies and went to work to find 5.14 lines.
On Castle Mountain, he worked for many days to open Castles in the Sky, a six-pitch 5.14 up the lower tier. A few years later, he opened The Moat, a four-pitch
5.11d with Brandon Pullan. He linked The Moat to Castles in the Sky into the Eisenhower Tower to the summit in a long day with 16 pitches up to 5.14 called War Hammer. Trotter then linked pitches on his and Tommy Caldwell’s The Shining 5.13 on Mount Louis to complete The Shining Uncut, a 12-pitch 5.14a. Trotter then bolted and sent a direct pitch halfway up the eight-pitch Blue Jeans 5.13 on Yamnuska to create Blue Jeans Direct 5.14a. Trotter planned to climb the three routes and ride a road bike between while camping beneath, but weather and the wildfire smoke prevented a solid effort.
In 2018, Digiulian was looking for a big project and landed on Trotter’s trilogy. She moved to Banff at the start of July and hoped to send the three routes by the end of August. Without Digiulian’s knowledge, Doyle had also planned to spend the summer in the Rockies, having presented at the Bow Valley Rock Fest the year before and
finding a number of worthwhile projects. Doyle, based in Las Vegas, said the heat down south was to intense to spend another summer chasing shade. Also planning to visit the Rockies was Jon Siegrist and Adam Ondra, two of the world’s best climbers. Digiulian wasted no time and, after finding the beta for Castles in the Sky, rounded up some partners to work on the crux pitches. After a few days working on the steep traverse/ roof pitch, Digiulian joined with local 5.14 climber Alex Fricker for a ground-up go of War Hammer
“We didn’t send yet, but I’m proud of our efforts and feel motivated about the progress we made,” Digiulian said after her attempt. “When the time is right, I feel like I can do it. The days are long and taxing, so I’m taking a rest day and going back out to give it another push tomorrow with Doyle.”
Sure enough, Digiulian and Doyle made the second ascent of War Hammer after she’d only been in the valley for one week. She said after, “Yesterday, after a week here, Doyle and I did the second free ascent and first female ascent of War Hammer. I have known Doyle for many years. He has always been an inspiring
“Yesterday, after a week here, Doyle and I did the second free ascent and first female ascent of War Hammer.” —SASHA DIGIULIAN
fellow climber, mentor and friend. I am so thankful to have succeeded on this climb together. Having Trotter, one of my alltime inspirations there to film it, was icing on the cake.” Not long after Digiulian and Doyle repeated War Hammer, local Canmore climber Sam Tucker made the third free ascent of Castle in the Sky. Later in the summer, Jon Siegrist also repeated Castles in the Sky.
Digiulian suffered an AC joint injury in her left shoulder and after War Hammer, she immediately went to attempt The Shining. “There are a lot of powerful yet technical gaston moves and on one of them I felt a weird twinge that lingered,” Digiulian said. “As the day progressed, I couldn’t lift my arm.” She suffered a grade-one sprain and hired physiotherapist Fabienne Moser, who does physio for the Canmore ski team. Digiulian went into rehab mode and
brought her injured shoulder back to the point where she could still climb 5.14.
The Shining Uncut was the most full-on mentally of the three climbs for Digiulian. The route includes an 80-metre 5.14 pitch on small holds with technical climbing, which had big rope drag. Digiulian would climb the first half of the pitch with one rope and would switch to a longer rope, which she had clipped into a few bolts on the previous pitch. The rope added about 10 kilograms of weight to Digiulian who was crimping on credit card edges.
On one of her send-attempt goes, she was joined by Dexter Bateman from Canmore. The following day, she said, “I felt run down, sore, tired and frustrated. I wanted to quit at the end solo-scramble up the mountain, of which contributes to a fourhour approach to reach the base of the line. While climbing, I was scared to fall on run-out vertical sections, not trusting my feet, and over gripping. My left shoulder took on a sharp pain to it, my hands had cuts all over, and I just felt achy. I couldn’t find my flow at all. I started thinking about how much easier an ordeal going to a crag and sport climbing may feel, as we neared the sixth hour of being at a hang-belay, working out pitches. Bateman kept cracking jokes, acknowledging the suffering in a jovial manner and making big links on the climb. I hope I can provide motivation and light to my climbing partners on their rough days like Dex did for me yesterday.”
Digiulian returned with Peter Hoang and sent the original The Shining 5.13
before returning with Doyle to complete
the Uncut version. Doyle didn’t get a send on the day and had to return later for the full redpoint. He said after, “Clocking in at a full 80 metres, this was probably the longest pitch I’ve ever done. I don’t know if I was just more mentally prepared, more rested or just sick of the hike, but the climbing felt smooth and relaxed. Definitely a big confidence booster. Sadly, the dense smoke rolled in, so I didn’t get any summit views.”
The three routes of the trilogy are all different style. War Hammer is steep and powerful and an endurance crux and The Shining Uncut is dead vertical with thin climbing. Blue Jeans Direct’s crux is a hard boulder problem about 200 metres off the ground that forces the climber to use more aggressive bouldering shoes. Digiulian used La Sportiva TC Pro for War Hammer’s first section and then La Sportiva Solution for the crux. On The Shining Uncut, she used Katakis and for Blue Jeans Direct, she switched it up to the Skwamas for the crux and Solutions for the vertical sections.
As the summer progressed, a number of wildfires started and the smoke travelled to the Bow Valley, which made climbing difficult. By the time Digiulian and Doyle were heading for Yamnuska, the smoke was thick and was breathing hard. Yamnuska is a south-facing wall that absorbs heat during the day and becomes excruciatingly hot during August, when they were hoping to send. The smoke was so thick some days, that it was equivalent to smoking eight cigarettes per day. Digiulian said the smoke made her feel like she had a migraine and it forced her and her team to stay inside for a number of days.
Digiulian hiked a 200-metre static rope to the top of Yamnuska with photographers Justin Olsen, Devon Delattre and Ryan Sheridan to fix the route. They brought two portaledges to make belaying and projecting easier. Blue Jeans Direct starts with a 5.12b, followed by two 5.12ds, a hard 5.13a, the 5.14 crux, a 5.11c and 5.10c. Digiulian spent
While climbing I was scared to fall on run out vertical sections, not trusting my feet, and over gripping.
a day working on the crux before going for a ground-up push on day four, when she made the second ascent of Trotter’s direct line and the last of the trilogy. “Throughout the whole project, I never fell on my redpoint pushes,” said Digiulian. “That was a cool bonus. I hate falling on big wall climbs since then you have to start over on the pitch and it adds up.”
Doyle made quick work of Blue Jeans Direct and visited the crux pitch with Digiulian to get the crux beta. He then returned with Cory Rogans, a young Canmore climber who freed some of the route on second and jugged ropes on the cruxes. “Cory’s stoke is contagious,” said Doyle after making the third ascent of the 5.14 route. “He’s a lifer and he absolutely crushed me on the hike.”
Both Doyle and Digiulian were thankful to their partners, Trotter and everyone else who helped in their sending of the trilogy. “Thanks to Trotter and friends for the effort and vision to clean, equip and prepare the trilogy,” said Doyle. “And thanks to Digiulian for dragging my lazy ass out that first day and inspiring me to get after it.”
Trotter’s alpine trilogy has already drawn climbers from around the world to explore big 5.14s on three of Canada’s most iconic peaks. There will surely be a more climbers heading over to try their luck on War Hammer, The Shining Uncut and Blue Jeans Direct this summer.—brandon Pullan