Rare Repeat of World’s Hardest Offwidth Crack
Fumiya Nakamura becomes the fourth climber in history to send Century Crack 5.14b
Located on the White Rim in Canyonlands, Utah, Century Crack is an intimidating 85-foot offwidth roof crack. The route starts with a section of hands before widening up to flared #6’s. After this technical crux it’s a total enduro-fest of #5’s before before pulling the roof lip at the very end. The route succumbs to a mix of hand and foot stacks, arm bars, bat hangs, and lots of “wide pony-ing”.
The monster roof crack was first climbed by Wide Boyz Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker in 2011 with the gear pre-placed. They later returned and sent it placing gear on lead. In 2018, Danny Parker became the third climber to send the route. Back in 2001, Steve Bartlett made the first aid climbing ascent of the line, originally naming the route Chocolate Starfish.
With his recent ascent, Fumiya Nakamura became to fourth climber in history to send Century Crack. He spent a grueling 83 minutes on the route during his successful redpoint attempt. His rack was heavy, containing pieces from #3 to #6, including ten #5’s.
“This requires a variety of techniques, not just wide pony,” said Fumiya on Instagram. “So much fun to climb this one. I stacked my foot multiple times and it took so long. I couldn’t even hold big jug but I finally did it!!! After I sent, I shouted for joy with all my might from my parched throat.”
Tom Randall & Pete Whittaker FA of Century Crack 5.14b
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