Crack Climbing: Mastering the skills & techniques

About Pete Whittaker

Drawn to climbing by the challenge and adventure Pete Whittaker seeks out pioneering first ascents and revels in pushing his personal limits. Having grown up in the Peak District surrounded by the area''s world-famous gritstone crags he has been climbing since the age of six and has gone on to rack up an impressive mix of climbing achievements on a variety of rock types and styles across the globe. As one half of the Wide Boyz duo with Tom Randall Pete has become synonymous with hard crack climbing. He has taken techniques learnt on his local crags and has applied them with great effect all over the world most notably on the huge roof cracks in the desert areas of Utah and on the big walls of Yosemite.In 2014 Pete flashed the classic Freerider (5.12d) on El Capitan Yosemite and in 2016 he became the first person to make a solo-free ascent of El Capitan in under 24 hours. He followed this up in 2018 with a single-day solo link-up of both El Capitan and Half Dome.On his local gritstone Pete''s major first ascents include Dynamics of Change (E9 7a) Bigger Baron (E10 7a) and Sleepy Hollow (E10 7a). Further afield he has made the first ascents of Century Crack (5.14b) the world''s hardest offwidth crack The Millennium Arch (5.14a) and Lamb of God (5.14b) all in Canyonlands Utah.Pete''s hard crack credentials also include the first ascents of Crown of Thorns (5.14a) and Cruzifix (5.14a) repeats of the legendary Cobra Crack (5.14b) in Squamish Canada - considered the hardest finger crack in the world at the time - and Recovery Drink (F8c+) in Jossingfjord Norway - his hardest crack to date. In 2019 he flashed Ronny Medelsvensson (F8b) also in Jossingfjord most likely the hardest ever flash of a pure crack route. He was also the first person to flash a 5.13 offwidth with his first-go ascent of Belly Full of Bad Berries (5.13a/b) in Indian Creek Utah in 2011. Pete believes he has only scratched the surface of what is possible with hard crack climbing.