Century Crack

Century Crack was discovered by Steve Bartlett, who completed the first aid climb of the route in 2001, giving it the name Chocolate Starfish. The first free climb of the route was completed in 2011 by Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall, and is documented in the movie Wide Boyz. They initially climbed it with pre-placed gear, which is called a pinkpoint in climbing, but returned two weeks later to repeat the climb while simultaneously placing the protection gear, per a normal redpoint. To train for the route, Randall built a replica of the crack in his cellar, where both climbers trained by doing continuous laps. They also did thousands of hours of offwidth-specific training, training an average of 5 days a week for two years. == Route ==

Century Crack starts with an roof-crack, that requires the climber to hang upside-down, making progress with various jams throughout the crack's varying widths. It requires a mix of hand jams, hand-fist stacks, fist jams, and various other offwidth techniques. The first of the crack is small enough for straightforward hand jams. This is followed by the offwidth crux section, wide enough for No. 6 cams, and the rest of the horizontal section fits No. 5 cams. The crux of the climb is where the crack transitions into a 45-degree overhang, requiring the climber to flip from their inverted position to an upright position. The top-out has the climber squeeze between two outcrops of rock onto the plain above. == Ascents ==

• 1st (as an aid climbing route). Steve Bartlett, 2001 • 1st (as an aid climbing route). Pete Whittaker, 2011 • 2nd Tom Randall, 2011 • 3rd Danny Parker, 2018 • 4th Fumiya Nakamura, 2023 • 5th Mary Catherine Eden, 2025 ==See also==