UKC

Randall & Whittaker Tick Brown & Whillans Peak Routes in 22hrs

© Guy Van Greuning
Duncan Campbell UKC

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Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker, not a pair to shy away from a challenge, put in an extraordinary effort earlier this week, climbing all the Brown and Whillans routes on the Eastern and Western Edges in just over 22 hours. 

Tom Randall on the Staffs 'Nose' Challenge last November &copy Guy Van Greuning © Guy Van Greuning
Tom Randall on the Staffs 'Nose' Challenge last November © Guy Van Greuning

Tom and Pete started at midnight at Bamford, with the first route of the day being MAy35, E6 6c, at Bamford, and had climbed all the routes on the Eastern Edges 15 hours into the day. With time to spare they drove over to Staffordshire to enchain the Western Grit routes, finishing 22 hours and 36 minutes after starting. 

Tom commented on the day on his blog:

"Climbing all of the Brown and Whillans routes on the East and Western edges reminded me constantly of the huge diversity of their additions. They were incredibly privileged to have made those routes their own as well."

The duo originally got the idea after completing the first one-day ascent of all the Brown and Whillans routes on Western Grit (The Roaches, Ramshaw, Hen Cloud - also known as the Staffordshire 'Nose'). Adding in the Brown and Whillans routes from the Eastern Grit crags upped the ante somewhat, taking the route tally from 31 to 125 and the hardest grade from E4 to E6. Once you have added in 23 miles of running on top of the 1800m of ascent Tom and Pete had to make, the challenge becomes no pushover.

After Pete's impressive day of soloing last month (UKC News Report), Tom's recent hard crack FA at Dinas Rock (UKC News Report) and with a trip to Yosemite fast approaching, it looks like the Wideboyz are on good form to climb some impressive stuff! 

We hope to bring you a more detailed piece on the day as soon as possible.

In related news, Andi Turner and Pete Bridgewood have beaten Pete and Tom's record for climbing the Western Grit routes, bringing the time down to 4 hours and 58 minutes, from 5 hours and 53 minutes as set by the Wideboyz last November (UKC News Report).

Pete Whittaker is sponsored by: Climb On, Casio G-Shock, Five Ten, Patagonia, Sterling Rope and Wild Country

Tom Randall is sponsored by: Climb On, Casio G-Shock, Five Ten, Rab, Sterling Rope and Wild Country. Tom is also a part owner of The Climbing Station

This post has been read 11,994 times

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Comments

Jon Read
5 Sep, 2014
Stunning effort guys! Allen/Bancroft routes the next challenge?
Owen W-G
5 Sep, 2014
Amazing achievement. Can't wait to see the route list and grades.
Babika
5 Sep, 2014
Wow! I feel exhausted reading about it. Superb enchainment of routes.
Graham Hoey
5 Sep, 2014
Hi Jon, do you mean only routes where Allen and Bancroft were on the FA together, or (like the B and W challenge) any routes where either of them was involved? The latter would be way, way physically harder and a lot more serious than the B and W challenge. There would be more routes than B and W, a much higher standard and spread out all over the entire peak in some very esoteric locations. cheers Graham
Graham Hoey
5 Sep, 2014
'climbing all the Brown and Whillans routes in the Peak District' Not true. Apart from the fact they were only doing the grit routes of B and W, none of the 14 grit routes done by B and W on north-west grit were in the list (by intention) i.e. those in Chew/Longdendale Valleys. To include these would add maybe 3 1/2 hr walking and climbing plus the driving time from Staffs and between car parks. I guess it's possible to do the lot within 24 hr if you can knock 3 to 4 hrs of Tom and Pete's time. One hell of a challenge though!
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