Rhapsody E11 – "An Eliminate"

by Jack Geldard – UKC Sonnie Trotter is in Scotland to climb Rhapsody, E11.He´s made a discovery that he says “may change the future of the line”. From Sonnie´s Blog: “The line veers considerably to the left and then back to the right and eventually straight up.It is difficult to call this the ´DIRECT´ finish of Requiem when in reality, it´s not very direct at all.But the climbing proves good and it´s fun to try hard.To open this can of worms a bit more, Yes, there is a new sequence which actually goes straight up and onto the headwall without veering left (E10?), I have done this clean twice on TR and is slightly easier than the line Dave chose. And yes, the Rhapsody line comes within mere inches of the clearly visible arête on the left, which I have also climbed a few times at around E9 as is spectacular as well. So effectively Rhapsody is an eliminate not a line in of itself.It´s not even safe to call it a link up because you are still choosing to avoid obvious and accessible holds to the left, it is merely a path of most resistance.I can understand that this is going to raise a number of questions, concerns and controversy.Like why didn´t Dave or I see this variation before?” So what does this mean? Well, not that much.It means Rhapsody isn´t a three star route, but it doesn´t mean that Dave´s effort wasn´t extremely hard and as Sonnie is still trying the route, it´s obviously good and he´s psyched for it.If nothing else then he´s opened up the possibility of 2 new eliminates on this wall – so that will keep him busy for a few more holidays yet!It might make the route almost impossible to climb onsight, as usually the line of least resistance is taken – however at this level onsight ascents are only theoretical. It sounds like Sonnie has been getting really close to completing the route, Dave Brown of HotAches has been filming and says: He´s looking strong on it, possibly stronger than Macleod – but he hasn´t got long left in Scotland and Dave Mac had a lot more time.” I guess this means that the hardest routes aren´t always the best.It´s difficult to open your eyes to other sequences when trying new routes, it´s easy to get stuck with certain moves.Good luck with the route Sonnie – from all at UKC. Watch a Video of Sonnie on Cobra Crack Here

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