Mari Salvesen Climbs Monster 5.14b Roof Crack in Utah
Half boulder problem, half trad route, Black Mamba is a wild climb on the White Rim
Norwegian climber Mari Salvesen recently sent Black Mamba 5.14b (8c) in Canyonlands, Utah. First climbed by Wideboyz Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall in 2019, Black Mamba is a very unique route. It starts off way back in a tunnel underneath the White Rim. The first section of the route is a long, winding roof crack that’s climbed ropeless due to its short distance from the ground. The crack ranges from fingers to fists, with a few very tough finger crack boulder problems. The tunnel is so long that climbers have to wear a headlamp for the first portion of the route.
Eventually the ceiling of the tunnel gets so high from the floor that the climber needs to rope up and rack gear with the help of their belayer. After an ungodly amount of roof crack climbing from the start of the tunnel, the crack widens into a brutal horizontal offwidth section, requiring #9 size cams to protect. At its end, a lip is pulled and the climber can top out onto the White Rim.
Mary Eden repeated Black Mamba last month, and spotted/belayed Salvesen on the route. To truly grasp how long the tunnel of Black Mamba is, check out Eden’s video below where she shoots a close up of the crack for the entire length of the route:
Black Mamba is yet another hard crack climb added to Salvesen’s tick list. In December 2022, she made the first ascent of Tazlov 5.13d, a bouldery roof crack near Bergen, Norway. Earlier in 2022 while on a trip to Indian Creek, she sent five 5.13 cracks including an onsight of Wapiti and a flash of the notorious Belly Full of Bad Berries 5.13. In 2019, she made the first female ascent of Ray’s Roof E7 6c at Baldstones in Staffordshire. The horizontal offwidth crack remains a gritstone test-piece and is one of the hardest of its kind in the U.K.
Some of Salvesen’s other impressive climbs include The Shield C4/A3 on El Cap, Master’s Edge E7 6b in the Peak District, Misanthropie V11 in Fontainebleau, Byrkjedalsfossen WI5+ 350m in Rogaland, Norway, and a lead rope-solo mission up the 19-pitch South Face of Mount Watkins.
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