Mason Earle Sends Squamish Testpiece Cobra Crack (5.14b)
Mason Earle has climbed Squamish's pride and joy, Cobra Crack (5.14b) —one of the hardest crack climbs in the world.
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Mason Earle has climbed Squamish’s pride and joy, Cobra Crack (5.14b)—one of the hardest crack climbs in the world—at the Cirque of the Uncrackables.
Earle joins the list of elite crack climbers to tick the line, including Canada’s own Sonnie Trotter, who made the first free ascent in 2006. Nicolas Favresse, Ethan Pringle and Matt Segal followed suit in 2008. Will Stanhope and Yuji Hirayama made the tick in 2009; Alex Honnold sent the route in 2011; the U.K.’s Wideboyz Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall made back-to-back ascents in 2013; and Ben Harnden clipped the chains in 2016. Their names, now including Earle’s, appear on a plaque at the base of the climb.
“I’ve given a lot to this route over the years, and it felt good to cruise up it this afternoon,” Earle reports on Instagram. “First tried this thing seven
or eight years ago, psyched, but physically unfit for the challenge. I’ve learned a lot since those first tries, and it’s cool to see how I’ve progressed. More on this story later, time for some drinks.”
Earle, a prolific crack climber, has ticked many of North
America’s hardest cracks, including Dean Potter’s steep finger-crack boulder problem Sasquatch (V11) in Yosemite and more Indian Creek testpieces than one can recall. He has numerous first ascents and first free ascents to his name, such as the offwidth The Price of Evil (5.13)
in Indian Creek and Real Talk (5.13+) in lower Mill Creek, Utah, and Heart Route (5.13b V10) and Psycho Bitch (5.13b) in Yosemite. In 2015 Earle completed the first ascent of his multi-year 5.14- project in Barlett Wash, outside Moab, one of the hardest pure crack climbs in the United States. The route consisted of a 35-meter overhanging finger crack and Earle removed his right shoe to be able to insert taped toes into the narrowest sections.
Want to climb 5.14 cracks?
Check out Tom Randall’s Cobra Crack Climb Finger Work-Out
Also watch
Mason Earle Establishes New 5.14 Crack Climb
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