Pete Whittaker - Arctic Ascent

Pete Whittaker is coming to The Wardrobe on Wednesday 10 March 2027, bringing a talk that takes you deep into remote East Greenland. If you're not familiar with the name, Whittaker is a big-wall and crack climber, and that's exactly where this night sits — right in the world of high-altitude, remote climbing.

For the uninitiated, big-wall climbing is about the long haul: climbing massive rock faces over several days, often sleeping in a portaledge suspended hundreds of feet up. Crack climbing is the technical side of it, finding and using the natural splits in the rock to haul yourself up. When you combine the two, you're talking about the kind of climbing that takes you to some of the most isolated places on the planet, and that's where this talk picks up. East Greenland is one of those places — vast, frozen, and very far from anywhere.

Whittaker's talk, Arctic Ascent, is built around his time there. He'll be talking through the experience of working in that landscape, the climbs he went after, and what it's like to operate in a place so remote. It's the kind of thing that's usually only seen in a few photos or a short film, so hearing it told first-hand is a good way to get a proper sense of it.

It's a mid-week one, so you'll need to work around it. The talk is on Wednesday 10 March at The Wardrobe in Leeds. If you've got any interest in climbing, the outdoors, or just hearing about a trip to one of the most remote corners of the globe, it's worth keeping on your radar.