Pete Whittaker’s “Soft Deck Out” Close Call
Pete Whittaker attempts a big urban crack in Germany
Pete Whittaker, one of the world’s best crack climbers, recently fell off a horizontal bridge crack in Germany and almost fully decked. Luckily, as he puts it, he got away with a “soft deck out.” Watch the close call near the end of the video below.
Whittaker, as one half of the famed Wide Boyz duo with partner Tom Randall, has carved out a reputation for being a bold climber who pushes himself on hard trad routes and big walls. In 2011, Whittaker flashed the notoriously punishing Belly Full of Bad Berries in Indian Creek before he and Randall made the first ascent of Century Crack. Over the next few years, Whittaker continued pushing boundaries with hard sends in Yosemite and beyond.
In 2021, he and Randall climbed beneath a highway overpass in Devon to free-climb the Great Rift, a 2,500-foot roof crack, read about it here. Their effort became the short film Bridge Boys. Two years later, Whittaker made the first ascent of Crown Royale in Norway’s Jøssingfjord, a 100-meter 5.14d gear climb.
