Attempting one of America's Hardest Crack Climbs

Where the hell are we? We're here at this amazing crack route out in the Utah desert called Stranger Than Fiction aka White Slipper aka The Bartlett Wash Project aka The White Stranger aka Slipper Wash aka Bartlett White White Bartlett The Slippery Wash And the first ascent was made by the local climber Mason Earl He said that this was one of the very hardest cracks that he'd done in his lifetime and this is someone that's climbed some of the hardest cracks in the world It remained unrepeated until very recently when Lor Sabren made the second Redpoint ascent of this route and again took multiple seasons and multiple attempts to do this Day one on the proj I've obviously been here before so I know what this is all about So it's day two for you So it's day two for me and it's looking as steep as it did before It's looking well chalked and fresh for us to jump in and steal all the beater off Laura and Brittany So to talk you through the route It's got about maybe 35 foot first section which is 45 degrees overhanging and is purples and greens so wide fingers, ring locks, paddle hands Really steep, really cruxy, quite sustained Go on, go on, go on Yes And then you exit it with a layback kind of sequence Really powerful, pumpy layback sequence It almost feels like it's a slab And then you land yourself on a small, mediocre rest Like pretty mediocre And you've got a hard crux boulder problem It kicks back into vertical on just standard finger locks and a bit of face climbing And then you exit out of that on some more greens And then last section which again is probably about 30 foot long for the last third of the route It's kind of like climbing on cobra crack Pretty good finger locks So quite a lot of purples and greys Good locks, pinkies down and thumbs down But really steep, big long moves An absolute heartbreaker move right at the end We best do some climbing then Yeah, see what this thing's like See what it's all about You excited? I'm very excited because It does look good doesn't it? It looks very good The set expectation is low because it's like day one, full jet lag And it's only like day three where I should be firing on all cylinders How many cylinders do you have these days? I'm gonna say I'm a four stroke engine Four stroke? Yeah, I'm no longer a V8 Ondra's a V12, you're a V8 I'm not V8 Yeah yeah, you are Good strong V8 American Mustang engine Solid and reliable Just keeps going Yeah Just never gives up Maybe like a tractor version Yeah, I'm just a slow tractor version Okay right, let's get on with this Was it what you expected? Oh, Mason most definitely delivered I think what's really unique about this route is that There's almost no proper rest or respite from anything And it's really full on Like none of the moves are limit bouldering They're all just a touch off, you know, what you would class as being a proper hard boulder section on its own But it's just non-stop really from start to finish So we're on session five Since when did you start warming up? When I realised I'm old It's quite warm today But it would be nice to like do all the moves on the route, all the sequences And then if it cools down next week then I would be keen for a rev point Just to see, like get an early rev point in to see what like an actual lead feels like Like trying to do longer sections, placing some cams Because that always makes a difference Unless you have the quick draw And you could put the cams on those already I'm going to show you what the quick draw always wanted to be That's going to fall out Right, quick No, no, no, no Put it back in your harness Draw Put it in your harness In fact it was so quick I couldn't even have time to say quick What does draw? Wind Oh no, where's your quick draw gone? So what we're going to do, two cabinas, the end of the sling Otherwise now known as a quick sling We're going to place one end of the loop through here, dangling down Hit the hold Don't laugh Pete, burn me off Hit the hold and now you need to clip real quick So you look down and look for the quick draw It's on the wrong side of your harness It's on the wrong side And then rather than the usual one and a half second release I'm just going to go quick Oh that didn't work And then like it says on the tin, quick Through the belt Through the rope Done So on this route the crack is obviously quite thin Because it's a lot of greens and a lot of purples And also some greys at the top And there's not really that many face holds for your feet So you can't really stand on the edge around the crack You actually have to put your feet inside the crack And obviously when it's purple size that's very thin for the feet When Mason did it he actually took his shoe off And had a taped foot underneath the shoe And then he was able to fit his foot in the crack a little bit further Me and Tom have been like a little bit, you could say sceptical maybe, about this Because maybe we have baby feet and I've never done this before And when we put our feet in the crack it's just like I want to have rock shoes on But now Tom's actually taped his foot for the first time And we're going to see if this makes a difference Because he said in this temperature today that he couldn't do this move I really don't want to do it Yeah And I feel very resistant to it But then I'm realising it's actually quite good And like that's a terrible tape job on my foot as well Like I haven't even done a good job and it still feels like a bit better Yeah What a dilemma So what session are we on Pete? We're on session six And I'm going for first red point Could end soon Like low What shoes are you going for? I'm going for left foot on the wall, your standard unparalleled velcro Yeah And then on the right foot, because that's toeing into the crack We've got the Danny P special Slim You know what I'm saying? I do know what you're saying What about pads on knees, rubber, extra rubber? Double knee pad So we've got knee pad on the right, knee pad on the left Okay, so what's the main goals? What's the outcomes you're looking for? I mean the goal is to see what it feels like There's like limited expectations Obviously I'll try really hard but things could go wrong Got 10 pieces and the plan is like If it all goes so well that I'm just like on the top head wall And I do the last crooks I'm just not going to take that piece because I just don't think I'll get there So then I'll just have to run it out That'll be exciting, won't it? Three main crooks, there's definitely one low down here Because it's like greens in a corner But the good thing is the feet are actually quite good there Because you can like squeeze them into like a v-wedge So it covers everything, it covers all the bad sizes You can't escape anything, no matter Like if you've got big fingers then you're going to find some other bits easier If you've got small fingers you're going to find some bits easier, some bits harder It could end up being the hardest moves right at the bottom Just because it's kind of a terrible size for me It's greens in a roof My hands do not fit in greens But what can we do about it? Just get on with it And then next crooks is a big move It's not that difficult a move But it's just difficult to hit it because you're going into a crack So it's just like kind of like vaguely dynamic But you just hope you hit it first go Come on And then it goes back into like baggy purples, tight greens And I think on that bit it's just picking the spot for your fingers Yeah maybe you do some ring locks and they're quite good if you have smaller fingers For me I think I'm just going to do long moves between the notches Where I can just put my meat sausages and just stick them in and just get finger locks This is like a lot of very very pure jamming So it's got like a couple of face holds But you have to be able to, you need to know your techniques And your locks and your thin hands and all that kind of stuff And then you get onto like the main head wall at the top And I guess for me they're pretty good locks It's basically purples So it's just like pick your spot And actually they kind of constrict down And then you go through the purples I think that's more just like knowing the sequence Knowing where you're hopping your foot up And it should be okay Pumpy, burly, big moves, good locks It was like blues, greys, absolute maximum So yeah pretty thin locks So we are back for session number seven Session six went surprisingly well First red point I actually managed to get to the penultimate crux, the final move But I was just way too pumped to do it The problem was I decapitated my little finger on the middle crux because my feet slipped Unfortunately I can't have any more red points at the moment But I'm just going to work the top crack And we'll see what goes on from that Keep watching