It’s fair to say that most climbers would rather dig a ditch than free solo the 50-foot roof-crack offwidth Trench Warfare (5.12d) in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

But the Wideboyz are not your average climbers.  On October 2, UKClimbing.com reported that Tom Randall free soloed Trench Warfare.

Randall wrote on UKClimbing.com, “For at least a year or so I've idly considered the concept of soloing Trench Warfare. I suppose it was mostly borne out of wanting to remove the hassle of placing the gear on lead (which is quite fiddly) so that I could enjoy the movement of the climbing.”

Hailing from the UK Randall and fellow wide crack aficionado Pete Whittaker have made a pilgrimage to the U.S., attempting to climb the country’s hardest offwidths.  Having just spent two weeks in Vedauwoo (see report here), the duo, now calling themselves the Wideboyz, journeyed to Salt Lake City with the classic Johnny Woodward testpiece, Trench Warfare, in their sights.

Feeling comfortable with the style of climbing in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Randall first flashed the route with a rope before going for the solo.  

He writes, “As it happened, we had a proper laugh up at the climb and nothing seemed simpler than jumping on it straight after, without a rope.”

Pete Whittaker also made an impressive flash of Trench Warfare and actually extended the original route by 20 feet.

Randall writes, “About a week before going on Trench Warfare, Pete had been goaded into doing an extension to the original Woodward route. Not surprisingly, Pete took up this mighty challenge and I watched on in wonder as he embarked on this extra bit of climbing, not even bothered that it might blow his flash attempt.”

For photos and more on the Wideboyz trip, check out UKClimbing.com