Mari Salvesen has made the fourth ascent, and second female ascent, of Black Mamba, 5.14b, in Canyonlands, Utah.

The route was first climbed in 2019 by Wide Boyz and lovers of all things crack, Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker. 

Black Mamba is unique in that its first forty metres might be better described as an incredibly long boulder problem. The roof crack starts at the far end of a long and dark tunnel, the majority of which is only a few metres high.

At the very end of the tunnel, however, the ground drops away, meaning that the climber must pause and hold a jam whilst their belayer ties them in and adds gear to their harness. Thereafter, they can continue through the final ten metres of powerful offwidth climbing.

Speaking about this final section after making the first ascent, Tom said 'Right at the end, when you have literally nothing more to give, you get a final grovel move that feels familiar to many of our shorter gritstone routes. You've got to fight, but sometimes just fighting isn't enough... you've got to somehow climb fairly well too!'

This final ten metre section was first climbed by Pete as a separate route during an earlier trip, and was named The Angry Pirate Finish.

Pete's own ascent required more than just fighting hard and good climbing, also demanding 'a head torch-lit start, three hand jam glove changes, a rope tie mid pitch, and toilet roll cushioning for tricep protection'. Pete said that he and Tom 'use these bizarre tactics because we're so focused on the climbing we forget to bring the more conventional tools to the crag, i.e. elbow pads or proper lanterns'.

Due to the length of the route and the diversity of the climbing - taking in finger cracks, thin hands, hands, fists, and the final crux offwidth - certain sections are relatively forgiving in terms of beta, allowing for more improvisation, whilst other sections require more detailed beta and good sequence retention.

We got in touch with Mari to ask how she got on with the route, and she had the following to say:

'After some big wall and aiding escapades in Yosemite, I had low ambitions for hard free climbing in the desert, but when the chance presented itself to go to Canyonlands, I took it'.

'It's different to anything I've seen before, it's like driving onto a different planet. My friend Sam was working on The Angry Pirate Finish - the final section of Black Mamba - so I did that one with her. It's offwidth chickenwing-ing galore! I sampled some other climbing in the area and was mega psyched for more, but didn't get too attached as I didn't have the logistical help of a partner and a 4x4 in order to come back'.

'Fumiya (the Japanese force that sent Century Crack this autumn) let me come along with him one day, and he was the first person that encouraged me to try Black Mamba'.

'The route is mostly a very long crack close to the ground, with a bit of route where you have to place gear at the end, which makes it a lot easier logistically than the other roof cracks in Canyonlands. Mary Eden had already done it earlier in the month, so it was also as clean and ready as can be'.

'After dabbling around on it warming up, I quickly felt very positive about it and decided to just give it a go, but fell into the trap of not having a good sequence on the cruxes and powered out. For two or three short sections I needed to find a good sequence, but the rest is good hand and fist jams, so I was able to just make it up as I went along'.

'The next session I came back and found a crucial constriction in the finger jam section that made the last tricky section a lot more casual, then the session after that I did it. In total it took me five sessions'. 

'The send felt pretty solid the whole way, but was not fully without some exciting moments. My taped crack glove sweated off, so I had to bite off as much of it as I could in the middle of the route. Also, I hadn't re-tried The Angry Pirate Finish since I did it a while back, so I wasn't sure how that would feel after so many metres of climbing and without a taped hand'.

'To my pleasant surprise, it felt so much better than last time I'd done it. My chickenwings were in there so deep that I didn't feel like I could fall out at any point. That's the beauty of offwidths, you're stuck in them!'

Mari also had some thoughts on the grade of the route.

'As for the grade, I wish I could blissfully ignore it, but as Black Mamba hasn't seen many ascents it's useful to contribute to the consensus over time'.

'Tom and Pete suggested 5.14b, which I shockingly found out translates to 8c. That would be the hardest grade I have ever climbed, which it didn't feel like to me'.

'Comparing it to other roof cracks in the area here, like The Crackhouse, it would make sense to give it 8b+, which would still be the hardest grade I have ever climbed, so I find it confusing'.

'I think roof cracks are such an isolated and niche skill, that they are a challenge to grade. I have realised that it's something I am probably quite good at, so comparing it to sporty trad climbs at home isn't fair'.

Check out the video below to see Pete and Tom's First Ascents of the route during their 2019 US trip.