Canadian Sonnie Trotter has repeated Rhapsody on Dumbarton Rock, Scotland, the first route in Great Britain given the E11 grade. In Rhapsody’s case, E11 translates roughly to 5.14c R—a 5.13c crack leading to a V10/11 boulder problem, with at least a 50-foot fall from moves near the top. 

It took Scottish climber Dave MacLeod more than 70 days over two years to complete Rhapsody in 2006, and he had the advantage of living a short walk from the crag. Trotter made two trips across the Atlantic to Scotland, in the spring of 2007 and 2008. The first trip was plagued by rainy weather, but during this year’s visit the weather was almost too nice, and the warm temperatures made it tough to hang onto Dumbarton’s slick holds. 

Trotter spent a month in Scotland this spring, twice changing his return flight to North America to buy a little more time on the route. During his attempts, he realized that Rhapsody was, in effect, an eliminate, choosing the longest, blankest line to the apex of Dumbarton Rock from the 5.13c crack called Requiem. It’s possible to bail left to the arête forming the left side of the face before the final crux, and Trotter eventually led a more direct route, leaving Requiem after it bends to the right, and found it a bit easier than Rhapsody. He called it Direquiem (5.14a R). 

But Trotter was determined to repeat MacLeod’s original line. Writing on his blog on June 6, he said, “Rhapsody may be an eliminate, but…there is a tremendous amount of logic behind what Dave did, and that deserves a pile of respect, I think…. The only rule is don’t bail left to the arete (a cop-out), stay on the face, and the line is very much obvious. And yes, very hard. Dave presented us all with a challenge. A challenge to climb this sequence of holds, and until someone does that challenge will always remain. I could do the ‘direct version’ and the ‘cop-out’ version, but I still didn't climb Rhapsody, and I would not be truly satisfied.” 

On June 9, a cold and windy day, after 14 climbing days and two dozen 50-foot falls from the route, Trotter sent Rhapsody. 

As MacLeod did during his own efforts on Rhapsody, Trotter maintained an introspective and funny blog detailing the mind games involved in such a route. To see all of Trotter’s posts on his Scottish adventure, scroll back to May 10 at sonnietrotter.com/roadlife.php. 

Date of Ascent: June 9, 2008 

Sources: Sonnietrotter.com/roadlife.php, Sonnie Trotter, Dave Brown

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