Biography
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 made a name for himself through crack climbing, including the first ascent of the world's hardest wide-width climb, Century Crack.
In 2011, Whittaker and Randall traveled to the United States, where he was the first to show Belly Full of Bad Berries (5.13b), a popular over-wide at Indian Creek. Continuing on the journey, Whittaker and Randall made the first ascent of Century Crack (5.14b), the toughest off-wide ascent in the world. After initially sending the route with the previously placed equipment, the two of them repeated the climb while placing their own equipment. In 2014, Whittaker became the first to flash Freerider (5.12d) on El Capitan. In 2016, Whittaker completed Freerider's first solo free climb in one day.
After exhibiting the classic Freerider (5.12d or 7c) in 2014 on El Capitan in Yosemite, in 2016 he became the first to climb El Cap solo and free in less than 24 hours. Then, in 2018, still solo, he climbed Capitan and Half Dome in a single day.
On the gritstone, among his big first ascents: Dynamics of Change (E9 7a), Bigger Baron (E10 7a) and Sleepy Hollow (E10 7a). Elsewhere, he debuted Century Crack (5.14b or 8c), the world's hardest off-width, The Millennium Arch (5.14a or 8b+) and Lamb of God (5.14b or 8c), all in Canyonlands, Utah.
Pete's extreme cracking history also includes early ascents of Crown of Thorns (5.14a or 8b+) and Cruzifix (5.14a or 8b+), iterations of the legendary Cobra Crack (5.14b or 8c) in Squamish, Canada, considered at the time to be the hardest crack in the world, and Recovery Drink (8c+) in Jøssingfjord, Norway, his most difficult achievement. to date. In 2019 he shone Ronny Medels-vensson (8b), also in Jøssingfjord, probably the toughest flash to date on a crack. He was also the first person to reach a width of 5.13 with his first ascent Belly Full of Bad Berries (5.13a/b or 8b) at Indian Creek, Utah in 2011. Pete believes he has only scratched the surface of what is possible to climb extreme crevasse.
In 2021, Whittaker and Randall scaled the Great Crack (5.13), a 2,500-foot ceiling crack below a road viaduct in Devon, England. His rise was documented in the short film Bridge Boys, which appeared on Reel Rock 16.
