Cobra Crack

Cobra Crack is a 45 m long traditional climbing route on a thin crack up an overhanging granite rock face on Stawamus Chief, in Squamish, British Columbia. The route was first ascended by Peter Croft and Tami Knight in 1981 as an aid climb. After rebuffing many leading climbers, most notably Swiss climber Didier Berthod in 2005, the Canadian climber Sonnie Trotter made the first free ascent in 2006. With subsequent ascents, the consensus grade has settled at, which ranked Cobra Crack as one of the hardest crack climbs in the world, and almost two decades later, it is still considered one of the world's hardest traditional climbing routes.

History
Canadian climbers and Squamish regulars, Peter Croft and Tami Knight, made the first ascent of Cobra Crack in 1981, a route that is located at the 'Cirque of the Uncrackables' behind Stawamus Chief, in Squamish. They used aid and graded it at A2. The route was named after the distinctive Cobra silhouette of the groove that leads into the main crack. By the 2000s, the route had become an open project with the leading traditional climbers vying for the first free ascent.

Swiss traditional climbing and crack specialist, Didier Berthod, attempted to free climb the route in 2005, but failed due to a serious knee injury. Berthod's efforts were recorded as part of an award-winning climbing documentary film, First Ascent, at the end of which he says to the camera (in crutches), "I came here to feed my ego and my vanity – to be the first". Berthod immediately quit climbing and became a Franciscan monk, and his struggles on the "world's hardest crack-climb", and his subsequent religious vocation, attracted international attention.

Canadian climber Sonnie Trotter made the first free ascent in June 2006, after 40 attempts spread over 3 years, placing all of his climbing protection as he was lead climbing on the route. Trotter felt it was a "solid 5.14" route, and with subsequent repeats, the consensus grade has settled on. A tradition was started of successful climbers signing a wooden fingerboard (called the "Earlmarker") that hangs near the base of the route.

Berthod, who had returned to climbing after more than a decade's absence, visited Squamish in 2023 for the first time since 2005, and made the first free ascent of the long-standing open project, The Crack of Destiny, which he graded as being harder than. In May 2024, Berthold returned to the route to make the 20th ascent of Cobra Crack.

Route
Cobra Crack is a crack climb with a narrow crack that barely accommodates any fingers. The route has an abrasive surface, causing many to limit their attempts to once or twice per day to avoid excessive skin wear. It, therefore, requires a higher pain threshold, with Trotter saying in 2006: "pain is ever-present, and the mental crux is overlooking the pain move after move". While the entire route is over 45 m long, the main crack is c. 30 m. Halfway up the main crack, it begins to sharply overhang at c. 45 degrees, and entering this section requires an extremely difficult and painful move where the climber inserts their middle finger vertically upwards into an "undercut mono pocket" in the 45-degree wall above them.

The technical crux is getting over the lip at the top of the overhang and then immediately making a critical move upwards. In 2006, Trotter said: "The redpoint crux comes over the lip on a slippery side pull; the feet are next to nothing, and it takes momentum and a huge throw to latch the final edge, at which point you're about 15 to 20 feet about your last piece of gear—it's really exciting". Contemporary climbers use route beta that employs a dramatic inverted heel hook (i.e. the climber's legs are above their body) to get through this lip.

Legacy
After its first free ascent in 2006, Cobra Crack was considered the hardest traditional crack climbing route in the world. Reporting on Didier Berthod's failed 2005 attempt, El Pais called Cobra Crack "the most difficult fissure on the planet", while Desnivel said that Favresse's 2008 repeat had: "sealed Cobra Crack's candidacy for the hardest crack on the planet". Two decades after the first free ascent, Cobra Crack still ranks amongst the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world, and only one to two notches below the hardest, which are at to potentially.

Cobra Crack remains an important route in traditional climbing history and repeats are covered in the climbing media. In 2017, after Mason Earle made the 11th ascent, PlanetMountain wrote: "Cobra Crack immediately struck a cord, in part due the heinous finger-locks required to power through the crux, in part due to its innate beauty. Over the years some of the best crack specialists in the world have been drawn to the line and while it may have lost some of its original fearsome reputation, the climb is just as beautiful as ever." In 2021, Gripped Magazine said: "Over the past decade and a half, it’s become one of the world’s most sought-after single-pitch gear [traditional] climbs". In 2023, Climbing called the route "famous" and "iconic".

Ascents
Cobra Crack has been climbed by:


 * 1st (as an aid climbing route). Peter Croft & Tami Knight in 1981 (as an A2-graded aid route).


 * 1st (as a free climbing route). Sonnie Trotter in June 2006.
 * 2nd. Nicolas Favresse in July 2008.
 * 3rd. Ethan Pringle in August 2008.
 * 4th. Matt Segal in September 2008.
 * 5th. Will Stanhope in July 2009.
 * 6th. Yuji Hirayama in September 2009.
 * 7th. Alex Honnold in 2011.
 * 8th. Pete Whittaker in September 2013.
 * 9th. Tom Randall in September 2013.
 * 10th. Ben Harnden in May 2016.
 * 11th. Mason Earle in October 2017.
 * 12th. Logan Barber in September 2017.
 * 13th. Said Belhaj in 2017.
 * 14th. Tristan Baills in 2019.
 * 15th. Ryan Sklenica in July 2021.
 * 16th. Stu Smith in 2021.
 * 17th. Nat Bailey in May 2023.
 * 18th. Connor Herson in August 2023.
 * 19th. Adrian Vanoni in September 2023.
 * 20th. Didier Berthod in May 2024.

Filmography

 * First Ascent: The Movie (2005), Peter Mortimer. Sender Films. ASIN B000IWPP4G. – Documentary with Didier Berthold.