Wide Boyz’ Whittaker Flashes 5.13d Roof Climb on First Try
The veteran Wide Boyz climber called ‘La Fuerza de Gravidad’ one of the best limestone roof cracks he’s ever climbed.
Pete Whittaker didn’t just send the roof crack; he cranked all the way across on his first try.
Perhaps that’s not too surprising, given that Whittaker long ago proved himself one of the world’s best crack climbers. Regardless, flashing a 5.13d route isn’t easy, though Whittaker told UK Climbing he thought “La Fuerza de Gravidad,” located in Vadiello, Spain, suited his specific experience.
“From having spent many, many hours on the Canyonlands roof cracks, and more recently on motorway bridges, big roofs like this feel very, very familiar to me,” Whittaker says in the outlet’s YouTube video.
Talo Martin photographed Whittaker during the taped session, and then gave some color commentary on his general badassery.
“On this trip, I witnessed Pete absolutely smashing it, looking a step above the other climbers I’ve seen on this route,” Martin said. “What a show.”
Whittaker Suggests Downgrading Route
Carlos “Citro” Logroño first climbed “La Fuerza de Gravidad” and assigned it a grade of 8b+/5.14a. However, after climbers Tom Randall and Hannes Puman made ascents using a knee bar, Whittaker suggested the route should be 5.13d.
Before climbing the route himself, Whittaker hadn’t received beta from Randall, though he did watch a video of the ascent. Also, his partner, Mari Augusta Salvesen, climbed the lower part to give him the beta for the finger lock sequence.
Despite that help, Whittaker “still managed to wrong-hand himself,” and had to do “some shuffling,” he told UK Climbing.
“The crux went quite steady, but I did find myself quite pumped at mid-way,” Whittaker said. “The end crack was a battle and I nearly dropped it on one occasion. I was basically just winging it there.”
Whittaker has climbed many of the hardest cracks in the world, including Century Crack and Black Mamba, both 5.14b routes in Utah.
Regardless, he had a good time on “La Fuerza de Gravidad.”
“It’s a fantastic route. I think this is the best Limestone roof crack I’ve climbed,” he said.
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