| Pete Whittaker | |
| Birth Place: | Peak District, United Kingdom |
| Occupation: | Professional rock climber |
| Spouse: | Mari Salvesen |
| Typeofclimber: | Traditional climbing |
| Knownfor: | Making the first ascent of Century Crack (5.14b), the world's hardest off-width crack climb. |
| Updated: | 1 August 2022 |
Pete Whittaker (born 1991) 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.
In 2011, Whittaker and Randall made a visit to the United States, where he was the first to flash Belly Full of Bad Berries (5.13b), a highly regarded off-width in Indian Creek.[1] Continuing the trip, Whittaker and Randall made the first ascent of the Century Crack (5.14b), the world's hardest off-width climb. After initially sending the route with pre-placed gear,[2] both subsequently repeated the climb while placing their own gear.[3] They won the 2016 Climbing magazine Golden Piton Vision Award for this feat.
In 2014, Whittaker became the first to flash Freerider (5.12d) on El Capitan.[4]
In 2016, Whittaker made the first rope solo free-climb of Freerider in a day.[5]
In 2021, Whittaker and Randall free-climbed the Great Rift (5.13), a 2,500-foot roof crack on the underside of a highway overpass in Devon, England.[6] 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 (5.14d) in Jøssingfjord (NOR). He proposed a grade of 9a (5.14d), 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".[7]
8b/8b+ (5.13d/5.14a):