Concrete Roof Crack Climbed in Squamish
Bronwyn Hodgins climbed a super long thin-hands splitter on the underside of a bridge
In late November, Squamish-based pro climber Bronwyn Hodgins sent the epic Necronomicon 5.13d/14a roof crack in Utah’s Canyonlands. To prepare for the climb, she found an interesting training method in Squamish before leaving for her trip down south. Her and her friend Pim Shaitosa, climber and photographer, found an incredibly long, thin-hands concrete roof crack on the underside of a local bridge.
The splitter required 18 red and four green cams to adequately protect the route. The crack is smooth and dusty, which made the jams extremely physical and pumpy. The slick, dusty concrete also created a risk of cams pulling in the event of a fall. Via Instagram, Hodgins gave some advice that bridge-crack aficionado Tom Randall shared with her: “Take care because cams can occasionally slip if the concrete is especially slippery/dusty. Weight test the placements and place enough to always be redundant.”
Hodgins managed to pinkpoint the route. She came close to the redpoint, but didn’t pull it off before she left for her trip to the desert. On Instagram, Randall had this to say about Hodgins’ discovery: “So cool! Wouldn’t surprise me if this was the hardest concrete roof crack pitch in the world right now.” You can check out some amazing photos her bridge crack climbing below:
Wide Boyz Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker have popularized bridge crack climbing in recent years, climbing numerous upside-down concrete splitters in the U.K. In Summer 2021, the duo made famously made the first ascent of the 800m Great Rift 5.13, spending four days and three nights climbing a 70-pitch horizontal crack on the underside of an elevated highway. You can watch an example of their concrete roof crack adventures in the video below:
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