'The Wideboyz', Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall have turned their attention to the opposite end of the crack spectrum, and are out in Squamish, Canada attempting one of the hardest finger cracks in the world, Cobra Crack, 5.14-. Pete Whittaker made a successful ascent last week, and Tom managed to pull an ascent out of the bag on his last day.
Cobra Crack, located at the 'Cirque of the Unclimbables' on the backside of The Chief, Squamish, was first climbed by Sonnie Trotter in 2006 who took on the project from Didier Berthod. Sonnie rated the crack 5.14- putting it in the region of 8b+ and one of the harder cracks in the world. It has seen a number of repeats since from Will Stanhope, Nico Favresse, and Alex Honnold amongst others.
Tom and Pete have been training for this for sometime, both in their cellar, and on Europe's crags, with Tom climbing Anna Kornikova, 8b+, in Italy (See UKC Report) and Pete climbing Karlek, 8b, in Sweden (See UKC Report). The pair have been in Squamish for a few weeks and are now coming to the end of their trip, leaving Tom just one day to get the route done.
According to the WideBoyz blog, Tom had been struggling on a particular move, whilst Pete had been getting higher and higher every redpoint attempt, then on Wednesday the 18th he managed to climb through to the top of this very iconic line.
Stay tuned for more details on Pete and Tom's ascents, but in the meantime, they have written a blog here.
Pete Whittaker is sponsored by: Climb On, Five Ten, Patagonia, Sterling Rope and Wild Country
Tom Randall is sponsored by: Climb On, Five Ten, Rab, Sterling Rope and Wild Country
Comments