Stranger Than Fiction, always been on mine and @tompaulrandall’s radar this one, but worried I wouldn’t be able to fit my meat mitts in the jams. Turns out I can (but only just in some cases as going crack and tape gloveless was the only option at the beginning) 👐😅 As it’s not had many ascents I’ll give my thoughts on the grade to add to the general consensus over time. For me it felt tough 8c, harder than Cobra, easier than Recovery. With pure cracks like this hand and finger size does always play a part though. This crack does take in a range of bad sizes so the cruxes are likely to be slightly different for everyone. However, what can be said is it’s such a classic for the hard global crack circuit, and you really need to know your pure jamming techniques for this one. Thanks @mason_earle for the vision and the fight right to the anchor. Maybe the power of the terrible Movember tache helped the redpoint. Myself and @tompaulrandall will be doing a tache fundraiser with forfeit soon, so look out for that! Now I’m going to go bathe my fingers as they feel beaten. 📽️ @mariaugustahs The actual climbing footage is a tense watch at the end. It’ll be on @wide_boyz very soon 👊 @wildcountry_official @patagonia_climb @sterlingrope @unparallelup @wide_boyz @desertdannyp (that pink UP shoe 👌)
Soloing big walls is a pretty skillful task. Amongst many other things it takes hard work, patience, commitment and most importantly an understanding of your own ability. Myself and Mari have climbed a number of different walls in varying styles and conditions, from aiding the whole of El Cap, to free climbing up tottering piles of choss like Troll Wall. However, I’m really impressed with @mariaugustahs solo of Mt Watkins this week. It’s such a different task doing these things alone. Amazing effort 🎉 P.s. I had a relaxing time pottering around yosemite. 1. Mari on West Face 2. Base of Mt Watkins 3. Feeling at home at Gogarth🫣…I mean Yosemite 4. A nice finger crack 5. This was an amazing climb 6. Mari at home among the bushy ground 7. Like I said
Soloing big walls is a pretty skillful task. Amongst many other things it takes hard work, patience, commitment and most importantly an understanding of your own ability. Myself and Mari have climbed a number of different walls in varying styles and conditions, from aiding the whole of El Cap, to free climbing up tottering piles of choss like Troll Wall. However, I’m really impressed with @mariaugustahs solo of Mt Watkins this week. It’s such a different task doing these things alone. Amazing effort 🎉 P.s. I had a relaxing time pottering around yosemite. 1. Mari on West Face 2. Base of Mt Watkins 3. Feeling at home at Gogarth🫣…I mean Yosemite 4. A nice finger crack 5. This was an amazing climb 6. Mari at home among the bushy ground 7. Like I said
Soloing big walls is a pretty skillful task. Amongst many other things it takes hard work, patience, commitment and most importantly an understanding of your own ability. Myself and Mari have climbed a number of different walls in varying styles and conditions, from aiding the whole of El Cap, to free climbing up tottering piles of choss like Troll Wall. However, I’m really impressed with @mariaugustahs solo of Mt Watkins this week. It’s such a different task doing these things alone. Amazing effort 🎉 P.s. I had a relaxing time pottering around yosemite. 1. Mari on West Face 2. Base of Mt Watkins 3. Feeling at home at Gogarth🫣…I mean Yosemite 4. A nice finger crack 5. This was an amazing climb 6. Mari at home among the bushy ground 7. Like I said
Soloing big walls is a pretty skillful task. Amongst many other things it takes hard work, patience, commitment and most importantly an understanding of your own ability. Myself and Mari have climbed a number of different walls in varying styles and conditions, from aiding the whole of El Cap, to free climbing up tottering piles of choss like Troll Wall. However, I’m really impressed with @mariaugustahs solo of Mt Watkins this week. It’s such a different task doing these things alone. Amazing effort 🎉 P.s. I had a relaxing time pottering around yosemite. 1. Mari on West Face 2. Base of Mt Watkins 3. Feeling at home at Gogarth🫣…I mean Yosemite 4. A nice finger crack 5. This was an amazing climb 6. Mari at home among the bushy ground 7. Like I said
Soloing big walls is a pretty skillful task. Amongst many other things it takes hard work, patience, commitment and most importantly an understanding of your own ability. Myself and Mari have climbed a number of different walls in varying styles and conditions, from aiding the whole of El Cap, to free climbing up tottering piles of choss like Troll Wall. However, I’m really impressed with @mariaugustahs solo of Mt Watkins this week. It’s such a different task doing these things alone. Amazing effort 🎉 P.s. I had a relaxing time pottering around yosemite. 1. Mari on West Face 2. Base of Mt Watkins 3. Feeling at home at Gogarth🫣…I mean Yosemite 4. A nice finger crack 5. This was an amazing climb 6. Mari at home among the bushy ground 7. Like I said
Soloing big walls is a pretty skillful task. Amongst many other things it takes hard work, patience, commitment and most importantly an understanding of your own ability. Myself and Mari have climbed a number of different walls in varying styles and conditions, from aiding the whole of El Cap, to free climbing up tottering piles of choss like Troll Wall. However, I’m really impressed with @mariaugustahs solo of Mt Watkins this week. It’s such a different task doing these things alone. Amazing effort 🎉 P.s. I had a relaxing time pottering around yosemite. 1. Mari on West Face 2. Base of Mt Watkins 3. Feeling at home at Gogarth🫣…I mean Yosemite 4. A nice finger crack 5. This was an amazing climb 6. Mari at home among the bushy ground 7. Like I said
Soloing big walls is a pretty skillful task. Amongst many other things it takes hard work, patience, commitment and most importantly an understanding of your own ability. Myself and Mari have climbed a number of different walls in varying styles and conditions, from aiding the whole of El Cap, to free climbing up tottering piles of choss like Troll Wall. However, I’m really impressed with @mariaugustahs solo of Mt Watkins this week. It’s such a different task doing these things alone. Amazing effort 🎉 P.s. I had a relaxing time pottering around yosemite. 1. Mari on West Face 2. Base of Mt Watkins 3. Feeling at home at Gogarth🫣…I mean Yosemite 4. A nice finger crack 5. This was an amazing climb 6. Mari at home among the bushy ground 7. Like I said
It’s always tricky to grade climbs towards the upper end of your level, as every increase in perceived difficulty feels like a huge step, when in reality you’re not actually progressing in grade that much. However I do think it’s good to try and suggest something for new climbs as it helps with a consensus over time. I took in two considerations when grading Crown Royale. 1 being a subjective feeling in comparison to other hard established trad lines, and 2 being a more objective perspective using the Darth Grader app. 1. The obvious route that I have to compare Crown Royale to is Recovery Drink (suggested as 8c ); Same wall, similar features, and a route I climbed back in 2019. To me CR felt harder overall than RD, but not by much, which is why my initial feeling about the route has been 8c /9a. 2. I’ve seen a few other climbers using the Darth Grader app to help as a guide when grading new routes, so gave it ago and it algorithmed (is that a word?) ‘soft 9a’. Of course using the app is still quite subjective, and the boulder/route grades I gave to individual sections of the climb could in fact be incorrect. However, again I used the ‘general consensus’ boulder grades of RD, plus other crack/boulders to help grade the sections of CR (i.e. this is easier than that… that is harder than this, etc). All things considered I’ll suggest 9a (very low end), and look forward to see what future repeats think. It would seem harsh to suggest 8c, as to me it certainly feels harder than Cobra Crack (considered benchmark 8c), yet incredibly over generous to suggest 9a (cos that’s just really hard isn’t it). So I believe it may sit somewhere between those grades. Either way whatever it settles at is all good, because if you like crack climbing, a few crimps and 100m pump fests, then you’re bound to have a jolly good time on this one 🙂
Second ascent(?) of Pura Pura (8c) Randall’s sit start to Greenspit. Links a sit start boulder into the famous trad line Greenspit. Pretty sure only @tompaulrandall would think of doing this 😅 but it makes for a good pumpy linkup if you’re into that stuff. As you can tell from the colour of my face in the photo, I was working hard at the end 😅 @sterlingrope @patagonia_climb @wildcountry_official @unparallelup @wide_boyz #crackclimbing #traddad #traddaddy
Second ascent(?) of Pura Pura (8c) Randall’s sit start to Greenspit. Links a sit start boulder into the famous trad line Greenspit. Pretty sure only @tompaulrandall would think of doing this 😅 but it makes for a good pumpy linkup if you’re into that stuff. As you can tell from the colour of my face in the photo, I was working hard at the end 😅 @sterlingrope @patagonia_climb @wildcountry_official @unparallelup @wide_boyz #crackclimbing #traddad #traddaddy
Fun to see a load of routes myself and @tompaulrandall developed 13-14 years ago in Orco Valley seeing traffic these days. In this little zone we did a new route called ‘End of the Flare’, now there are 3 – 4 other really nice cracks and lines which have been established there. On a recent revisit it was nice to repeat the other routes. 📸 Rocky Marciano (8a), taken by @mariaugustahs
Over the past 12 years I’ve run many Crack Schools with @tompaulrandall and taught thousands of people the basics of jamming. I’ve not once finished a Crack School class dissatisfied; there are always so many people who seem genuinely happy with what they’ve learnt, and for me it’s fulfilling to be able to provide knowledge that is useful to others in their climbing. I feel like being able to jam effectively, hasn’t just helped me climb routes, but has actually kept me safe in the mountains and on the crags, so I like to think it has helped keep others safe as well. For me the Crack Schools at @valle_orco_climbing_festival with @wildcountry_official were no different, lots of psyched people, and everyone keen to learn. So, thanks very much to everyone who signed up and participated 😀 Also a final extra thanks to the @valle_orco_climbing_festival for inviting us to Italy and accommodating us so kindly. Many thanks Michele, Andrea, Yamil and Fonti Minerali, plus the whole Wild Country team and everyone else involved, what a great event and week. 📸 Thanks to @robertomorstudio for the shots👌
Over the past 12 years I’ve run many Crack Schools with @tompaulrandall and taught thousands of people the basics of jamming. I’ve not once finished a Crack School class dissatisfied; there are always so many people who seem genuinely happy with what they’ve learnt, and for me it’s fulfilling to be able to provide knowledge that is useful to others in their climbing. I feel like being able to jam effectively, hasn’t just helped me climb routes, but has actually kept me safe in the mountains and on the crags, so I like to think it has helped keep others safe as well. For me the Crack Schools at @valle_orco_climbing_festival with @wildcountry_official were no different, lots of psyched people, and everyone keen to learn. So, thanks very much to everyone who signed up and participated 😀 Also a final extra thanks to the @valle_orco_climbing_festival for inviting us to Italy and accommodating us so kindly. Many thanks Michele, Andrea, Yamil and Fonti Minerali, plus the whole Wild Country team and everyone else involved, what a great event and week. 📸 Thanks to @robertomorstudio for the shots👌
Over the past 12 years I’ve run many Crack Schools with @tompaulrandall and taught thousands of people the basics of jamming. I’ve not once finished a Crack School class dissatisfied; there are always so many people who seem genuinely happy with what they’ve learnt, and for me it’s fulfilling to be able to provide knowledge that is useful to others in their climbing. I feel like being able to jam effectively, hasn’t just helped me climb routes, but has actually kept me safe in the mountains and on the crags, so I like to think it has helped keep others safe as well. For me the Crack Schools at @valle_orco_climbing_festival with @wildcountry_official were no different, lots of psyched people, and everyone keen to learn. So, thanks very much to everyone who signed up and participated 😀 Also a final extra thanks to the @valle_orco_climbing_festival for inviting us to Italy and accommodating us so kindly. Many thanks Michele, Andrea, Yamil and Fonti Minerali, plus the whole Wild Country team and everyone else involved, what a great event and week. 📸 Thanks to @robertomorstudio for the shots👌
Over the past 12 years I’ve run many Crack Schools with @tompaulrandall and taught thousands of people the basics of jamming. I’ve not once finished a Crack School class dissatisfied; there are always so many people who seem genuinely happy with what they’ve learnt, and for me it’s fulfilling to be able to provide knowledge that is useful to others in their climbing. I feel like being able to jam effectively, hasn’t just helped me climb routes, but has actually kept me safe in the mountains and on the crags, so I like to think it has helped keep others safe as well. For me the Crack Schools at @valle_orco_climbing_festival with @wildcountry_official were no different, lots of psyched people, and everyone keen to learn. So, thanks very much to everyone who signed up and participated 😀 Also a final extra thanks to the @valle_orco_climbing_festival for inviting us to Italy and accommodating us so kindly. Many thanks Michele, Andrea, Yamil and Fonti Minerali, plus the whole Wild Country team and everyone else involved, what a great event and week. 📸 Thanks to @robertomorstudio for the shots👌
Over the past 12 years I’ve run many Crack Schools with @tompaulrandall and taught thousands of people the basics of jamming. I’ve not once finished a Crack School class dissatisfied; there are always so many people who seem genuinely happy with what they’ve learnt, and for me it’s fulfilling to be able to provide knowledge that is useful to others in their climbing. I feel like being able to jam effectively, hasn’t just helped me climb routes, but has actually kept me safe in the mountains and on the crags, so I like to think it has helped keep others safe as well. For me the Crack Schools at @valle_orco_climbing_festival with @wildcountry_official were no different, lots of psyched people, and everyone keen to learn. So, thanks very much to everyone who signed up and participated 😀 Also a final extra thanks to the @valle_orco_climbing_festival for inviting us to Italy and accommodating us so kindly. Many thanks Michele, Andrea, Yamil and Fonti Minerali, plus the whole Wild Country team and everyone else involved, what a great event and week. 📸 Thanks to @robertomorstudio for the shots👌
Over the past 12 years I’ve run many Crack Schools with @tompaulrandall and taught thousands of people the basics of jamming. I’ve not once finished a Crack School class dissatisfied; there are always so many people who seem genuinely happy with what they’ve learnt, and for me it’s fulfilling to be able to provide knowledge that is useful to others in their climbing. I feel like being able to jam effectively, hasn’t just helped me climb routes, but has actually kept me safe in the mountains and on the crags, so I like to think it has helped keep others safe as well. For me the Crack Schools at @valle_orco_climbing_festival with @wildcountry_official were no different, lots of psyched people, and everyone keen to learn. So, thanks very much to everyone who signed up and participated 😀 Also a final extra thanks to the @valle_orco_climbing_festival for inviting us to Italy and accommodating us so kindly. Many thanks Michele, Andrea, Yamil and Fonti Minerali, plus the whole Wild Country team and everyone else involved, what a great event and week. 📸 Thanks to @robertomorstudio for the shots👌
Over the past 12 years I’ve run many Crack Schools with @tompaulrandall and taught thousands of people the basics of jamming. I’ve not once finished a Crack School class dissatisfied; there are always so many people who seem genuinely happy with what they’ve learnt, and for me it’s fulfilling to be able to provide knowledge that is useful to others in their climbing. I feel like being able to jam effectively, hasn’t just helped me climb routes, but has actually kept me safe in the mountains and on the crags, so I like to think it has helped keep others safe as well. For me the Crack Schools at @valle_orco_climbing_festival with @wildcountry_official were no different, lots of psyched people, and everyone keen to learn. So, thanks very much to everyone who signed up and participated 😀 Also a final extra thanks to the @valle_orco_climbing_festival for inviting us to Italy and accommodating us so kindly. Many thanks Michele, Andrea, Yamil and Fonti Minerali, plus the whole Wild Country team and everyone else involved, what a great event and week. 📸 Thanks to @robertomorstudio for the shots👌
Over the past 12 years I’ve run many Crack Schools with @tompaulrandall and taught thousands of people the basics of jamming. I’ve not once finished a Crack School class dissatisfied; there are always so many people who seem genuinely happy with what they’ve learnt, and for me it’s fulfilling to be able to provide knowledge that is useful to others in their climbing. I feel like being able to jam effectively, hasn’t just helped me climb routes, but has actually kept me safe in the mountains and on the crags, so I like to think it has helped keep others safe as well. For me the Crack Schools at @valle_orco_climbing_festival with @wildcountry_official were no different, lots of psyched people, and everyone keen to learn. So, thanks very much to everyone who signed up and participated 😀 Also a final extra thanks to the @valle_orco_climbing_festival for inviting us to Italy and accommodating us so kindly. Many thanks Michele, Andrea, Yamil and Fonti Minerali, plus the whole Wild Country team and everyone else involved, what a great event and week. 📸 Thanks to @robertomorstudio for the shots👌
Over the past 12 years I’ve run many Crack Schools with @tompaulrandall and taught thousands of people the basics of jamming. I’ve not once finished a Crack School class dissatisfied; there are always so many people who seem genuinely happy with what they’ve learnt, and for me it’s fulfilling to be able to provide knowledge that is useful to others in their climbing. I feel like being able to jam effectively, hasn’t just helped me climb routes, but has actually kept me safe in the mountains and on the crags, so I like to think it has helped keep others safe as well. For me the Crack Schools at @valle_orco_climbing_festival with @wildcountry_official were no different, lots of psyched people, and everyone keen to learn. So, thanks very much to everyone who signed up and participated 😀 Also a final extra thanks to the @valle_orco_climbing_festival for inviting us to Italy and accommodating us so kindly. Many thanks Michele, Andrea, Yamil and Fonti Minerali, plus the whole Wild Country team and everyone else involved, what a great event and week. 📸 Thanks to @robertomorstudio for the shots👌
Good afternoon 😀 it’s been great getting to grips with this route from @mason_earle (Stranger Than Fiction) over the last couple of weeks. It really is one of the great crack testpieces out there. Had a good first redpoint the other day getting to the final crux, but I’d made so many mistakes getting there, that the pump had added up to be too much, and there was only 1 way down 😅 Even though the first attempt was extremely promising, it’s gona be tricky in the time frame due to skin and finger joint care; quite alot of rest time is needed for everything to stay fresh. Meaning, every redpoint counts! Look forward to the next session with @tompaulrandall Also congrats to @lor_sabourin who sent this last week for the 2nd redpoint ascent 💪 extremely impressive seeing how solid they made everything look 👌 Finally, I also put a video (vlog) together for The @wide_boyz youtube channel of mine and Tom’s first sessions, so check it out if you want to see some pure splitter action and Tom’s ‘quick’draw method 😂
What an amazing event from @hangarostrava and @adam.ondra in The Czech. If you haven’t checked out the full video of this yet certainly head over to the AO Youtube Channel. Here @petewhittaker01 gives you a little insight into his boulder which went from thin hands to invert offwidth, followed by a crack switch from left to right leg leading, with a finale kneelock to finish the problem. Certainly a crowd pleaser🎉 Anyone in the IFSC setting circuit up for some crack workshops for setting inspiration? Techniques like these are gona be exciting and new to watch for the audience. Hand jams have been seen, it’s time to start bringing the good stuff in 😉 We’re ready for it, the world is ready for it 💪 #crackisback
New podcast with Pete Whittaker! 🔥🔥🔥 @petewhittaker01 is widely regarded as one of the best crack climbers of all time. You know and love him as one of the @wide_boyz 👨🏼🤝👨🏻 We talked about: – Trying Stranger Than Fiction 5.14 in Moab 🏜️ – Training for the FA of Crown Royale 9a 👑 – The skills needed to climb cutting-edge cracks 🫲 – Why he is still working on ring locks 💍 🔒️ – The futuristic Crucifix Project 😳 – His most fun, rewarding, miserable & traumatic trips with @tompaulrandall 😂 – And much more! 🎙️EP 196: Pete Whittaker Link in highlights! (Latest Episodes) 📲 📸 of Pete on the FA of Crown Royale 9a by @andrew_burr
