Whit Magro Sends New 10-Pitch 5.14 in Wyoming

Whit Magro is based in Bozeman, Montana, and made the first ascent of the hardest long route in Wyoming last fall.

Called Yellow Wolf, the 10-pitch route goes at 5.14a and climbs a big wall at the Clarks Fork tributary of the Yellowstone River.

Magro ticked the big line last fall after working session with his brother Sam, along with Brady Johnstone, Greg Collins and Jason Thompson.

The bolted/trad line has one pitch of 5.14-, three pitches of 5.13, one of 5.12 and one of 5.11+, with the others up to 5.7)

In an interview with Chris Van Leuven, which you can read here, Magro said about the 40-metre 5.14- pitch called Up Against the Wall, “It’s all in the feet and you’re standing on nuthin’.

A 1,000 Foot 5.14: Whit Magro Sends Wyoming’s Longest, Hardest Route —- The mixed sport and trad line has one pitch of 5.14-, three pitches of 5.13, one of 5.12, and one of 5.11+ (the remaining are between 5.4 to 5.7). The route begins with a few approach pitches up easy circuitous terrain that traverses right to access the wall above. The first three pitches climb right above where the Clarks Fork smashes against the wall below. Magro made a topo specifically for Pitch 4, the route’s crux, to help him stay on-sequence through the cryptic, mega-thin face climbing. —- Link in profile —- Photo: Courtesy Whit Magro #climbing @climbingmagazine #hardclimbing #wyoming

A post shared by Chris Van Leuven (@chrisvanleuven) on Jul 2, 2018 at 6:02pm PDT

“I could only do it with my sharpest, fresh shoes.”

Some of Magro’s other ascents, according to Van Leuven: “In 2006, he free soloed the 2,300-foot WI5 Losar, in Nepal’s Khumbu. In 2007, he and Kris Erickson freed Hyalite Canyon, Montana’s four-pitch Winter Dance WI7 M8.

“In 2011, on a final four-day push with Nate Opp and Josh Wharton—and after two seasons of work—he freed the 6,233-foot Wave Effect 5.12+, a link-up of Aguja Desmochada and Aguja de la Silla and Cerro Fitz Roy in Argentine Patagonia.”