Pete Whittaker is a British climber renowned for his achievements in technical climbing, particularly crack climbing, off-width climbing—a style involving cracks too wide for conventional hand or fist jams but too narrow to fit the entire body—and solo big-wall climbing.
Together with his long-time climbing partner Tom Randall, he formed the renowned duo Wide Boyz. The pair specialise in some of the world’s most difficult crack climbs, famously spending years training on purpose-built crack systems in a basement in the UK.
In 2011, Whittaker and Randall made the first free ascents of Century Crack in Utah, USA—a 40-metre, near-horizontal off-width crack considered at the time to be one of the hardest climbing challenges of its kind in the world. The achievement came after two years of highly specialised training and became one of the defining accomplishments of the Wide Boyz.
Alongside his extreme crack climbing, Whittaker has established himself as an exceptional solo big-wall climber. In 2016, he became the first person to free rope-solo El Capitan in under 24 hours. Climbing the Freerider route alone, using a rope and self-belay system for protection, he completed the iconic granite wall in 20 hours and 6 minutes.
In 2017, Whittaker completed the first solo free ascent of Mount Watkins in Yosemite in under 24 hours. A year later, he linked two of Yosemite’s iconic big walls—Half Dome and El Capitan—climbing them solo in 20 hours and 19 minutes.
In 2020, Whittaker completed one of his boldest achievements: the first free solo ascent of Kjerag in Norway. Climbing entirely alone, without a rope, harness or protection, he completed the approximately 800-metre Renshaw/Foulkes route in just 2 hours and 25 minutes.
Among his more unconventional projects is The Great Rift, completed with Tom Randall in 2021. The pair made the first ascent of a huge roof crack beneath a motorway viaduct in Devon, UK—another example of the Wide Boyz’ unconventional approach to climbing.
Beyond climbing, Pete Whittaker is also an author and has been involved in a number of adventure film projects. His climbing exploits have been featured in productions including Wide Boyz, Wide Boyz II and Without a Partner.
He is the author of Crack Climbing: The Definitive Guide, a comprehensive guide to crack-climbing techniques, which won the Guidebook Award at the Banff Mountain Book Competition in 2020.
With his technical mastery, unconventional projects and distinctive sense of humour, Pete Whittaker continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in modern rock climbing.