Pete Whittaker and Mari Salvesen made history by flashing Autobahn (5.14), a 60‑meter horizontal offwidth crack hidden beneath a Sheffield highway—widely regarded as the world’s hardest urban crack.
Route: Autobahn, first climbed by Tom Randall in 2024, is a brutal roof crack that devours #5 cams and demands relentless offwidth technique.
Style: Both climbers achieved a flash ascent—meaning they climbed it cleanly on their very first attempt, with no prior practice.
Significance: This is considered one of the most difficult urban climbs ever established, rivaling natural testpieces like Century Crack in Canyonlands.
Legacy: Whittaker’s ascent was the second ever, followed immediately by Salvesen’s third. Their achievement cements them as masters of the offwidth discipline, blending raw power with technical precision.
