- Who
- Tom Randall, Pete Whittaker
- What
- 762 metre(s)
- Where
- United Kingdom (Exeter)
- When
The longest continuous roof (horizontal) climb in the world is "The Great Rift", a 762-m-long crack-climb that has been graded as a 5.13. The route, which runs along the underside of an elevated section of the M5 motorway in Devon, was discovered and completed for the first time in November 2021 by British climbers Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker (known as the "Wide Boyz" in climbing circles).
Crack climbing is a discipline in which climbers jam their feet and hands into a crack to make progress. In this case the crack was the narrow expansion gap between the two halves of a six-lane motorway bridge over the River Exe near Exeter. Randall and Whittaker divided the route into 10-m pitches for belaying, and brought a portaledge, which could be anchored into the gap during overnight rests. It took them four days to complete the crossing.
Randall and Whittaker had taken to climbing bridges during the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, and decided to attempt this climb as a final masterpiece to cap off this period of their climbing careers.
