HARDEST Trad Climbing Flashes of All Time 

Doing the hardest flash trad climb ever, and immediately downgrades it... Pete, we love you!

What a flex when you can go: "Yea, one of the hardest trad climbs is done by a guy called ME"

I loved everything about this. I can’t believe you were on the rock for that long straight, and I love that someone who can perform physical feats on the level of Alex Megos also rides a tandem bike with his buddy and goofs around. Pro climbing needs the level of fun that Pete, who is as good as anyone, brings. So Pete, next time you are in the states, I have some cool spots in Idaho I can show you, and on a rest day, we can continue your strongman training 😉

What are the hardest (physical) grades that have been flashed on a trad route, by both men and women? Just interested in single pitch trad lines. Our attempted list is below, help us out please! - The Path 8b+, Alex Megos - Ronny Medelsvensson 8b, Pete Whittaker - Greenspit 8b (pre place gear), Stevie Haston - Something's Burning 8a+/b, James Pearson - Grade of 8a+, a few by Alex Honnold, Pete Whittaker, Petter Restorp, Hannes Puman Women - Grand illusion 8a+, Beth Rodden (pinkpoint??) - Point Blank 8a, Babsi Zangerl - Grade of 5.13- (7c+/8a), many by Brittany Goris, Amity Warme, Hazel Findlay, Mary Eden, Mari Salvesen, Beth Rodden, Emilie Pellerin, Babsi Zangerl

so cool to watch you in your element, I can't believe you can climb like that without gloves or tape

Does stepping on someone's face count as a dab? ;) Amazing video, Pete. Is there an uncut? 35 min is nuts and would be neat to see how you pace on such an epic fight. (also, don't worry about the bolts, you could have just soloed that!)

After recently trying a crack boulder at my local gym for the first time, it is mind blowing to me how you managed to do it without tape. My skin’s been recovering for a week now and I at most spent 5 minutes on the wall. Also, the voiceover made it a lot more enjoyable as I got to understand a bit what comes into play when dealing with such hard routes !

no matter what the grade is, I enjoyed watching it

You guys should maybe try to include camera shots from far away. I think it would help as, at least for me, the zoomed in shots you guys use makes wall angles a bit confusing and it can be a bit disorienting. Otherwise fantastic video!

I just showed Pete's hanging video w Storror to my flatmate and we were both open mouthed. Phenomenal. Been really enjoying this channel too; keep it up guys!

Great video. Just the right amount and perfect style of commentary

the willpower, strength and technique required to do this is just bonkers! insanely good job Pete love your videos!

Strong work young man. Yosemite OG Dads are pround of you.

My favorite channel at the moment! The mix of the adventurous spirit of climbing, humor and climbing does it for me. Thanks for the content Tom and Pete.

Great video! Loved the narration and move by move breakdown of not only the moves but the whole thought process and strategy.

I'm glad to see you're starting to get some recognition for how beastly you are, you've been criminally slept on considering where you stack up amongst the best in the sport.

Wow, great effort. Very well made short film too. I really like that more climbing videos these days have uninterrupted shots of pure climbing footage.

As usual, incredible effort Pete. Great to see you not only put your all into a challenge but also remain humble and honest in your assessment of your achievement.

I got pumped just watching that

Amazing climb Pete!!

A great video from start to finish, thank you for not ruining the expert climbing and commentary with music.

I liked a lot the video, but also the comments of Pete!! better than the techno music that usually sounds in climbing videos ;).

A beautiful, inspiring and instructive video. Thanks for sharing!

Absolutely brilliant Pete!

You got a nice narrative voice Pete!! You should think about narrating documentaries haha very impressive climb tho!!

Holy... Prter... I'm still amazed you can endure pain AND keep going on, with the best form, considering the circumstances.. and then you mention you've been like X3 times longer on the wall than actually have seen. The best to you

Pete dude!!! That unstoppable effort is always a pleasure to watch. Well done🤙💪

I was pumped by 11 minutes in just watching! Superb effort whatever the grade. Nice one

I didn't even make it through watching your 'scend in one go. I can't imagine how you stayed on that long. You're a beast.

More of this kind of videos, please! Thanks.

Awesome job. Beast power doing that for 40 minutes lol. This channel will go massive for sure, you are for sure a natural in front of the camera.

Dude, you are an absolute monster! That was "BOSH"! 🤘😝🤘

Epic this dude, completely forgot the name of this route tother day down the climbing works, meant to congratulate you on it!! Fucking cracking sir!!

what a send! so humble too. mad respect

Awesome job Pete. I discovered you and your channel while watching Magnus, and have become addicted to your and Tom's wit, style and abilities (and, of course, Mari the Magnificent!). Fantastic stuff really.

When Pete's head literally turns purple 😂

You're a goddamn legend. Keep staying healthy and getting stronger.

Wondeful stuff. Well done Pete, I see that one was a pump and a half! Good grade there. I think you're right.

Damn. Pete's endurance/pain tolerance/crack technique is unreal.

Wow, that was really incredible! The enormous physical and mental strength you have is wonderful and inspiring to watch (no tape?!)! And I also like your narrating voice 👍.

proper fight, well done beast-Pete!

"just end up going on the ride of your life" had me in stitches!

I like the summary of the history in the beginning.

Great work Pete!

what an endurance pete very impressiv and very nice route !

That was really cool Pete. Meditative even. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.

That was rather jolly exciting buddy! Well done 👍

The best climbing channel on RU-vid💯🔥🔥🔥 and all your videos are just 👌🏻👌🏻 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻💯🔥

Genuinely thought the camera man was offering his face as a foothold. Now that's commitment to the flash.

Mari cheering down below 😂

Nice work! I can still hear Pete saying to himself "top rope, on top rope" on a much earlier gritstone effort. And wait!? Stevie Haston on preplaced gear?

Great stuff. I enjoyed the commentary during the climb, and I was really drawn in and engaged as you were cruxing out. Good editing

Flash ascents are an interesting and nuanced thing and I wonder if in the modern era of RU-vid beta and drone inspection of routes, will we see sub categories of flash? Watching a random climber at the crag climb something from ground level is quite different to a video with close ups of holds, which is different from getting hold by hold and gear beta from someone who has done the climb (i.e. Megos on the path). Something like Visual Flash, Video Flash, Beta Flash or a combination.

12:13 "Come on. Here, have this foothold on my face."

Pete, this video is incredible engaging and enjoyable!!!!

I love it how since the first pictures of them climbing Im irritated about the angle of the world.

Tactical camera angle at the end hiding the cheeky laybacking?

Absolute beast!! 🤩 Well done mate - LOVE your videos!!!

Gaskins98 downgrading another route.

Super impressive, Pete. Well done!

incredibly narrow video from the wide boyz, loved it

Awesome climb, great analysis. Thanks

Rad little film, thanks!

Honest question, if you hypothetically would have soloed the 6c bolted section and only placed gear on the crack could you have claimed it as a “pure trad line flash”? Not that it matters one way or another, I’m just curious.

Awesome video - well done mate! 💪🏼💪🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Holy crap. This was incredible 🤯

Good video and thanks for the explanation. Learned again because of this channel!

What a job. Super!

Great vid. Beast mode.

Well done!

Interesting that Stevie gets to claim a flash of Greenspit with pre-placed gear when the standard was set ahead of time by Didier, who placed gear on lead. And to come full circle, Pete and Tom were shat upon by Stevie for claiming an FA with pre-placed gear on Century Crack? I'm confused....

Nice one Pete……💪🏻👏🏻🔥🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🧗🏻‍♂️

Absolute Badass, no doubt. This is big boi shit. 💪

I really liked your Harnesses i wish i could buy one like that here in brazil

'Put ur foot in my face' 🤣🤣🤣🔥🔥🔥

Wow! Nice fight.

Effort level: purple face

always in the beast mode! :-) great!

3:55 yeah, blame it on the fingers. Hard is hard Jokes aside, it was a really beautiful crack, the fact it is limestone i would worry about every piece of the border of the crack falling off at any time. I believe it was Darshano Rieser that claimed that 10th grade (grade X UIAA - 8b) is the highest difficulty you can protect without using bolts, in limestone, due to the properties of the rock

What British trad grade would it get?

"Technically not a pure trad line", Pete, trad dad, 2022

Pegazo!

Sick one!

Incredible

Has anyone ripped their finger off by falling while a finger lock was in? This is the kind of thing that scares me about crack climbing Also, thank you so much for your content. As a climber who has almost exclusively bouldered for 4 years, and is getting into sport climbing outdoors this fall, it is very inspiring to watch.

Amazing work, specially climbing back down to the rest and retrying. How long did you rest in that spot the second time?

Wow 40 minutes on a roof. I'm pretty speechless. Pete, are you human?

I could watch 40 minutes of this raw uncut climbing 🤩

I felt my fingers crackin

Great climb, 40 mins is a very long time up there. We'll done!

How cool!!

Beast!!!

@Pete is that a thick rope you use for the flash attempt? Would a thinner lighter rope make any difference?

Pete "Glizzyhands" Whittaker

props

Insane!

Please include basic geographic information at the beginning for us non-climbers. A simple location name and basic postage stamp-sized region or country map would be a huge help. Also, I had no idea this was a roof crack until you were halfway through the video. Yes, all the climbers know, but not all your viewers do. I know route maps like those in guidebooks are kind of useless with roof cracks, but even a few seconds of a dotted line map would also be informative. Thank you.

how do you get your gear back at that route? Somebody toproping?

So when can we expect you write your sequel to John Long's How to Climb 5.12, Pete Whitaker's How to Flash 5.14?

It was sad to see a bolt right next to the crack, which of course this gentleman did not clip. Congratulations on achieving this...