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Climbing progression is a lot like bailing out a sinking boat: lose focus and you’ll quickly tank.
For many adult climbers whose carefree twenties are growing increasingly fuzzy in the rearview mirror, this realization hurts. But it also can be immensely motivating if you surround yourself with the right people.
Three longtime pals—Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell, and Sonnie Trotter—found themselves in such a boat. Approaching middle age, with growing families and an increasing amount of non-climbing obligations, they shook on a gentleman’s bet to see who could become the first of them to send a 5.14d (9a).
When I first heard of this lighthearted race in 2023, I can’t say I was impressed. After all, Caldwell ticked 5.14d midway through his 19-day ascent of the Dawn Wall, Sonnie Trotter made the first free ascent of Cobra Crack (5.14b) before and after climbing separate 5.14d’s, and Alex Honnold is apparently a pretty good rock climber too. Surely, despite their middle age, all of these guys would be able to figure 9a out.
A few minutes into “Race to 9a”—a 30-minute doc following the trio’s progress—I realized just how old I, too, have become. Caldwell hasn’t climbed the grade since he climbed the Dawn Wall in 2014, a staggering 11 years ago.
Eleven years!
Trotter hasn’t ticked 5.14d since his 2015 redpoint of Estado Critico, and Honnold says he has never sent the grade, despite climbing Arrested Development (5.14c/d) in 2019. All three have, however, become fathers, and in interviews look like they desperately need a cup of coffee. Even Honnold, in the video, describes Caldwell as someone who has “ground down into middle age a bit” and who these days is “more of an ambassador than an athlete.”
Fair enough, guys. Life happens.
With a renewed idea of what life now looks like for three of rock climbing’s most recognizable faces, “Race to 9a” is surprisingly wholesome and worthy.
“We all have other climbing partners,” Honnold says in the film. But they’re unemployed 24 year olds who spend six hours a day in the gym. For him, it was especially meaningful to race for this goal alongside two other dads—albeit two other professional rock climbers—who have a lot of “life” to deal with outside of climbing.
Honnold says the 9a goal is really just a proxy for the desire “to feel something in climbing I haven’t felt before.” That resonates with me. Most folks are trying to break just a bit of new ground in their climbing, and surrounding yourself with friends who share similar life circumstances can make that process even more fun.
I can’t imagine it’s more fun, though, than saying you burned off Mr. TC himself. Congrats on the W, Sonnie.