Alex Waterhouse sets new record on Plumber’s Crack at Red Rock, USA

Plumber’s Crack is one of the most classic boulder problems at Red Rock, an obvious rite of passage for anyone in the Las Vegas area. Formed by the boulder splitting neatly in two, this smooth 10m climb starts with an extremely narrow squeeze and finishes with an impressively wide offwidth, graded V2 overall.

Britain's Alex Waterhouse, who after retiring from competition climbing made a name for himself last year with a rare free ascent of The Nose on El Capitan together with Billy Ridal, has now made what is no doubt the fastest known time of this highball: 25.97 seconds starting from and finishing at the rock nearby. Waterhouse's feat may seem more aking to parkour but is actually the result of an impressive array of different climbing techniques. The video of his ascent has gone viral and garnered 9.7 million views as we go to press.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Alex Waterhouse (@waterhouseclimb)