British climbers set record jammed upside down in a crevice

Two years training in a cellar followed by hanging upside down hundreds of feet above a rocky gully may not be everyone's idea of fun.

Hanging tough: Pete Whittaker tackles Century Crack upside down (Pic: Alex Ekins)

But that is what daredevil British climbers Tom Randall, 32, and Pete Whittaker, 20, put themselves through to become the first to complete one of the toughest rock climbing challenges in the world.
The duo travelled to the Canyonlands National Park in Utah to take on a geological feature known as Century Crack – a 49m (160ft)-long gap between two huge rock formations.
To scale the crack, Tom and Pete first had to take on a 37m (120ft) horizontal stretch which meant they dangled perilously, often upside-down, above a rocky gully. And they did so without pre-placed equipment.

Little by little: Tom Randall inches his way through his ascent of the crevice (Pic: Alex Ekins)

Tom, from Sheffield, said: ‘All the work is done by our hands and feet. Feet work well because they’re around the same width as the crack whereas, with our hands, we had to stack them together in all sort of bizarre shapes.’
The pair had already completed an arduous training programme using a replica of Century Crack built in Tom’s basement.
They completed 5,300m (17,500ft) of horizontal, upside-down climbing, 42,300 pull-ups and bicep curls, and almost 16 hours of static abdominal holds during their six-days-a-week regime.
Source:http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/889809-british-climbers-set-remarkable-record-jammed-upside-down-in-a-crevice