Newsletter Vault
Find all our past newsletters with crack climbing knowledge, insights and stories, all in one place
3 Secret Weapons for Finger Cracks (Youāre Missing One)
Hello Cracksters
Feet in fingers cracksā¦desperate right?
But there are 3 techniques I use regularly with my feet in finger cracks that act as secret weapons. They are:
1. Toe Jam
2. Front-On Smearing
3.Ā and theĀ Frogged Position.
Here are the key takeaways for making your feet stick like glue ...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
DONāT Be a Crack Climber!!!
Hello Cracksters
Crack ClimbingĀ andĀ Jamming
We use the terms interchangeably, but they are two different things:
Crack Climbing:Ā the art of climbing cracks
Jamming:Ā The techniques we use to squeeze, expand, twist and rotate body parts in to different features (notice I say ādiffer...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
What the best climbers do that makes them so good?
Hello Cracksters
Iām currently on a climbing trip in Norway at JĆøssingfjord. For those knowledgeable Cracksters out there, you will know this is where the famous crack climb Recovery Drink is. And also my route Crown Royale, which I did a few years ago.
I have been on this trip wi...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
3 game changers I learnt last week
Hello Cracksters
Iāve just been on a climbing trip with Tom, to Switzerland (Tom says hi by the way), trying an 8b+ trad line.
Weāve had around 5-6 climbing days to get the route done, which for me, at this level on trad is quite tightā¦
So today Iām going to give you 3 things Iāve...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
I struggled with offwidths, until I fixed this!
Hello Cracksters
Itās really common to find offwidthing hard. So today Iām going to tell you:
The reason for this
Why I used to struggle
How I fixed it
Ā
1. The Reason
Let's think of it this way: you wouldn't expect to hop into a car and drive...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
The Secret to Effortless Crack Climbing (It's not strength)
Hello Cracksters
The Stick-Slip Point: Climbing Smarter, Not Harder
I was filming some YouTube videos with Emil Abrahamsson the other day, and we stumbled upon something really interesting. We were experimenting with weighted Paddle Jams*, and even though E...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
STOP Making These 3 Common Crack Climbing Mistakes
Hello Cracksters
Hereās the plan:
I'll tell you the mistake.
I'll explain why it's a bit of a pain.
And of course, I'll give you the fix.
Ready? Letās roll!
Ā
Mistake 1:
Air Jamming (aka Jamming in Mid-Air)
The Mistake:Ā Basically, youāre setting up your ...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
3-easy-steps to get ahead in 2025
Hello Cracksters
Great to be back with the crack community this month. Iāve enjoyed our monthly letters together throughout 2024, I canāt quite believe weāre heading into 2025 very soon
With a new year, I always like to think of ways I can improve.
So, in this email Iām going to give you thin...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
Mirror Wall - 4 ways crack gave success
Hello Cracksters
I recently returned from a trip to Greenland where I was successful on climbing a new route on Mirror Wall; A 1000m big wall in the arctic.
Everyday I was always reminded how useful crack climbing is in the mountains.
Through Wide Boyz and āthe crack climbing communityā we sh...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
I answered your burning questions
Hello Cracksters
You guys are doing an amazing job at helping spread the jamming joy around the world. Small things that we do collectively helps bring crack climbing to more peopleā¦
ā¦which is why I opened up our last newsletter to you guys, to ask me your burning questions, so we can share m...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
2 CRUCIAL techniques to make fist jams easier
Hello Cracksters
Many people find fist jamming to be difficult when they start, but today Iām going to give you 2 things to think about to make fist life easier.
Recently iāve been deep into writing the first ever online crack climbing course (yes you are the first to hear about this, it is d...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025
Easy things to learn from a World Cup climber
Hello Cracksters
You can learn so much from climbing with new people! A few months back I had theĀ Ā pleasure of climbing with Sofya Yokoyama, a professional competition climber from Switzerland. I'm going to let you know 3 things that I learnt (both crack and none crack) from climbing with her...
by Pete Whittaker ā
Dec 30, 2025