Newsletter Archive

Find all our past newsletters with crack climbing knowledge, insights and stories, all in one place

80% of crack strength comes from one thing

Hey Cracksters, Tom and I have just got back from the Rack N Roll series, where we taught crack climbing at 3 different gyms to over 300 people! Today, I’ll answer a few of the most frequently asked questions from those sessions. Crack training? Managing fear? Jamming in a crack too big? ...

by Pete Whittaker — Jul 30, 2026

800m solo on Kjerag: My biggest technique takeaway

My crack tip this week comes from my recent rope solo on Kjerag, where I managed a first free ascent of a route on its north wall—an 800m wall of fantastic rock, rivers, grass, and slime. Lovely! Climbing routes like this (especially when rope soloing) can often be quite demanding, and you ha...

by Pete Whittaker — Jul 30, 2026

Why Tom taped the crux cam to his chest?

Hey Cracksters, In last week’s newsletter, we looked at racking up and some tips to make your life easier. However, that was purely a racking system for when you’re onsighting a climb. Things can drastically change when you are redpointing—so much so that on one route, Tom actually taped the ...

by Pete Whittaker — Jul 30, 2026

Are you racking your cams the wrong way?

Hey Cracksters, I was recently on a climbing trip to Nissedal with Mari, and the topic of racking came up. She’d been climbing with some other people recently and noticed how they and I racked up totally differently. So today, let's look at racking up— I’m going to give you 10 racking up tips...

by Pete Whittaker — Jul 07, 2026

The Secret To Making Offset Cracks Work

Hey Cracksters, In today’s newsletter, I’m going to give you some tips on how to read offsets when crack climbing, depending on the size of the jam you are using. An offset is when one side of the crack protrudes further than the other. Offsets can work in your favour if you use them correctl...

by Pete Whittaker — Jul 07, 2026

Pakistan: What went wrong?

Hey Cracksters, I’ve recently just got back from an expedition to Pakistan—however, I shouldn’t be back this early. In fact, the rest of the team is still out there and still climbing as we speak! So, what happened? I actually ended up getting extremely altitude sick. So sick, in fact, that getti...

by Pete Whittaker — Jul 07, 2026

“My fist is too small”. Do This.

Hey Cracksters, When the crack gets too big for single-handed jams—whether it’s a standard hand jam or a fist—this is where many people start to struggle. So, I’m going to give you 5 techniques you can use to make your hand size "bigger" than a standard fist jam. 5 Ways to Make Your Fist Bigger...

by Pete Whittakerm — Jul 07, 2026

The 3 Second Rule For Bomber Jams

I was coaching at Crack Fest the other week and noticed a very particular mistake that many of my students were making in the classes. As soon as I noticed it and they changed it, we got a lot more tops of boulders during the session. The 3-Second Rule for Precision If the jams you are working ...

Jul 07, 2026

How To Get Better Without Even Climbing

Hey Cracksters, I have some thoughts from Crack Fest a few days ago which I want to share with you today, and I’m also going to ask you to do a little something as well. It’s fun, and it will actually improve your crack climbing. What I noticed at Crack Fest this year This was year number...

by Pete Whittaker — Jul 07, 2026

5 Golden Crack Rules You Can’t Ignore

Hey Cracksters, With Crack Fest just around the corner, there’s going to be a serious amount of jamming going on. So whether you’re heading to Germany or just starting your project at the local crag, I wanted to take things right back to the basics. These 5 rules form the foundation of ever...

by Pete Whittaker — Jul 07, 2026

Why Your Hand Doesn’t Fit (+The Fix)

Hey Cracksters, I get told a lot by people that they really struggle with thin hand cracks. For sure, they are difficult, but I often see the same mistakes occurring when people try these jams. Most people focus 100% of their effort on what to do with their hand once it’s in the crack. Whil...

by Pete Whittaker — Apr 21, 2026

The Grade Calculator: How to Use Grades to Route Read

Hey Cracksters, I’ve just got back from a trip to Bohuslän in Sweden last week. If you’ve never been, the granite there is world-class! While climbing a few routes, I was reminded of a specific skill that is so important for onsighting: being able to do ‘on-route grade calculations.’ Most peop...

by Pete Whittaker — Apr 21, 2026

1 2 3 4 5