Pete Whittaker
Pete Whittaker is a British professional rock climber. He is one half of the duo known as the Wide Boyz, along with his climbing partner Tom Randall. Whittaker came to notability from crack climbing, including the first ascent of the world's hardest off-width climb, the Century Crack.
Climbing career
In 2011, Whittaker and Randall made a visit to the United States, where he was the first to flash Belly Full of Bad Berries, a highly regarded off-width in Indian Creek. Continuing the trip, Whittaker and Randall made the first ascent of the Century Crack, the world's hardest off-width climb. After initially sending the route with pre-placed gear, both subsequently repeated the climb while placing their own gear. They won the 2016 Climbing Golden Piton Vision Award for this feat.In 2014, Whittaker became the first to flash Freerider on El Capitan.
In 2016, Whittaker made the first rope solo free-climb of Freerider in a day.
In 2021, Whittaker and Randall free-climbed the Great Rift, a 2,500-foot roof crack on the underside of a highway overpass in Devon, England. Their ascent was documented in the short film Bridge Boys, which was featured in Reel Rock 16.
In 2023, Whittaker made the first ascent of the 100m crack climb Crown Royale in Jøssingfjord. He proposed a grade of 9a, making it one of the hardest trad routes in the world. He spoke on the difficulty of grading the route, describing it as "harder overall than Recovery Drink, but not by much, which is why my initial feeling about the route has been 8c+/9a".
Ascents
Redpoint
Flash
:Filmography
- Wide Boyz, directed by Chris Alstrin and Paul Diffley
- Wide Boyz II – Slender Gentlemen, directed by Paul Diffley
- Bridge Boys, directed by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen