Wild Country presents 'Crack School Masterclasses' 2014 featuring the ‘Wideboyz’...
The Wideboyz
Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker, shot to prominence after their ascent of the world’s hardest offwidth, the amazing roof of Century Crack, E10/8c, in 2011. Captured in the award winning ‘Wideboyz’ movie Tom and Pete won plenty of admirers with their dedication and training that brought a leap in standards. However, after running out of offwidths(!!) the dynamic duo decided to prove their versatility by switching to more conventional crack sizes. And in the last eighteen months have proved they are true crack masters (and possibly the world’s best crack climbers) with some incredible ascents including: Greenspit, 8b+, Europe’s hardest handcrack, and Cobra Crack E9/8c the world’s hardest finger crack.
The ‘Crack School’ Mission
This time the ‘Wideboyz’ objective may be a bit safer, but is an equally skilfull task, which is to pass on their knowledge in a series of exclusive ‘Crack School’ Masterclasses run by Wild Country at some of the Uk’s best climbing walls. Each Crack School Masterclass will take place on specially designed finger, hand and offwidth cracks and the aim is to enable climbers of all abilities to get involved and to unlock the secrets of crack climbing direct from the Wideboys.
Each session will last 90 minutes and cover from basic principles to advanced techniques (depending on the make up of the groups).
Where and when
8th March - Boulders, Cardiff - www.bouldersuk.com
15th March - The Foundry, Sheffield - www.foundryclimbing.com
29th March -
26th April - Leeds Wall, Leeds. www.theleedswall.co.uk
27th April - The Climbing Station, Loughborough. www.theclimbingstation.com
15th June - Castle, London. www.castle-climbing.co.uk
“Thanks for Crack School, especially Pete & Tom who were incredible, helpful and friendly. A great, fun day with some laughs, some tears and bit of bloodshed - Brilliant” Charley Fell
How it works
Each ‘Crack School’ Masterclass costs £25 per person with a maximum of six people per class and there will be six masterclasses per day making a total of 36 spaces at each event. The Masterclass fee covers:
1. 1.5 hour crack masterclass with Tom Randall or Pete Whittaker.
2. Free Wild Country T shirt worth £25.
3. Free Wideboys DVD from ‘Hotaches’ worth £20.
4. Free BMC DVD worth???
5. Free entry to the wall.
6. Signed Wideboys poster.
All profits from these masterclasses will go towards the BMC Paraclimbing team to provide support for the team to attend the 2014 World Cup. Tom and Pete will also be donating a day’s coaching each to the BMC Paraclimbing Team as part of their involvement.
‘Crack School’ is one my favourite days coaching - I absolutely love it. Teaching people crack skills and seeing them leave with new techniques, a smile on their face and loads more confidence is all any coach can ask for!’
Tom Randall
The BMC’s British Para Climbing Team
The British Para Climbing team was formed in 2013 by the British Mountaineering Council and currently consists of eight members, male and female who started competing in 2013 in the fledgling IFSC Para Climbing Cup series which took place across Europe and included roped climbing and bouldering. The British Team did incredibly well in 2013 with Fran Brown adding a silver medal at the European Championships to the gold she picked up at the World Championships in 2012. Several other team members made it onto the podiums with a good haul of medals.
After already supporting GB team member Sianagh Gallagher, Wild Country will be helping to support the British Para Climbing team in the expanded World Cup series in 2014 by providing equipment and helping to raise money for travel to events. The Para Climbing team is supported by the BMC and can only continue with the support of the dedicated volunteers who give their time and energy to bring climbing to wider audience and increase the participation in this fantastic sport.
If you want to find out more about the GB Para Climbing team you can go to the BMC website for more information.
