UKC

NEWS: Pete Whittaker rope-solos Half Dome and El Cap in a Day

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 UKC News 13 Nov 2018
Pete Whittaker has rope-soloed Half Dome and El Capitan in 20 hours and 19 minutes. This is believed to be the first sub-24 hour 'Big Linkup' since Dean Potter and Hans Florine's ascents in 1999, with the exception of Alex Honnold's sub-24 'Triple Crown' solo in 2012. Adding to the significance of his achievement, Pete had only climbed The Nose twice, Half Dome once and had not soloed either route before. In 2014, Pete made the first all-free rope-solo ascent of El Capitan, Yosemite in a day. Pete climbed the classic 37-pitch Freerider 5.12d in just 20 hours and 6 minutes, which he flashed in 2014.

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1
 ashtond6 13 Nov 2018
In reply to UKC News:

> Pete climbed the classic 37-pitch Freerider 5.12d in just 20 hours and 6 minutes, which he flashed in 2014. 

Amazing achievement. 

However, can't help but think you are baiting here! Was debated in detail & the consensus was that he did not flash it. 

17
 Michael Gordon 13 Nov 2018
In reply to ashtond6:

Yes, and I don't think saying "which he very nearly flashed in 2014" is doing him a disservice - still very impressive. 

For some reason I had it in my mind that Alex Honnold had done a triple solo link-up, but maybe I was thinking of the one with Tommy Caldwell? 

4
 Michael Gordon 13 Nov 2018
In reply to Tom Knowles:

Thanks, for some reason I didn't notice the mention in the first paragraph of this UKC article! Incredible achievement.

 CVI 14 Nov 2018
In reply to UKC News:

Did he not do his solo rope climb of Freerider in 2016?

In reply to CVI:

True, amended. The flash was 2014. 

2
 ashtond6 14 Nov 2018
In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

> True, amended. The flash was 2014. 

Top reporting, especially for such a landmark achievement. 

I fell off a route this weekend, got straight back on and went a slightly different way for the crux, great flash in the end  

12
 Michael Gordon 14 Nov 2018
In reply to ashtond6:

It's a tough one but in the end he chose to try the way he did. A flash is something with less grey areas than most and 'first time only' is about as cut and dried as it gets.

2
 Kemics 17 Nov 2018
In reply to UKC News:

So staggeringly impressive. Not so much the climbing which is nothing new, but Whittaker's conditioning must be super human levels. Even though he's engaged in a tiny and specific niche aspect of an already fairly obscure activity, he's very much a world class professional athlete. 

The walk off the nose took me 5 hours (carrying a haul bag) in approach shoes. And my legs didn't stop hurting for the best part of week! 

 

edit - any old punter can repeat routes. When are the wide boyz going to free a new route up el cap!? They've got the wide crack skills, the thin crack skills and all round big walling savagery... time to break new ground. 

Post edited at 20:07
 paul mitchell 17 Nov 2018
In reply to Kemics:

from Reddit Climbing   

From Pete's Instagram (the worst place to announce news): "Cheeky little mission the other day. I managed to solo both Half Dome and El Cap in under 24hrs.

Pretty pleased as I'd only done The Nose twice, Half Dome once and not soloed either route before, so the solo logistics felt kind of 'onsight'. There were definitely a few rope tangles and glitches to sort through, especially when I got lost on the first part of Half Dome (but that's standard behaviour really). Obviously apart from @alexhonnold doing the Triple, maybe this is the first time this has been done since Dean Potter and @hansflorine ? Who knows! What I do know is that is was a bloody good day out!

From the bottom of the first wall to the top of the second was 20hrs 19mins."

 paul mitchell 17 Nov 2018
In reply to UKC News:

from Planet Mountain

Alex, where does an ascent of this magnitude come from?
I've been planning to do this for months, and I'd talked to my friends about it a lot; and it was all filmed for the 2012 Reel Rock tour. It definitely wasn't spur of the moment...

Yes, we'd read that you described the Triple Crown linkup with Tommy Caldwell as just a warm-up. So is this solo ascent what you had in mind?
Yes, this is what I had in mind and I'm also hoping to also do a speed ascent of The Nose with Hans Florine some time next week. Let's just say that this is all part of my big wall season here in Yosemite.

We read about 90% free solo while the rest was climbed with aid.
At times I stood on bolts and pins and pulled on fixed gear and things.

Did you ever use a rope?
On Watkins I used a rope for two long pendulum rappels on the first pitch, then I threw the rope back down and did the next 18 pitches with only daisy chains. On The Nose I used a rope a number of times, for the four major pendulums and to rope solo 2 short sections of aid climbing (getting to the Boot and the end of the Great Roof). And for Half Dome I didn't take a rope at all, but used dasies on and off. That's why it's really hard to describe this kind of style. Basically I did anything I could to get to the top and still feel safe.


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