“I began making an attempt it again in 2017 after climbing Massive Fish. I used to be at all times searching for that subsequent factor, making an attempt to step it up a notch,” Chris Sharma tells me about his most tough deep water solo up to now.
He’s speaking about Black Pearl, a 100-foot overhanging line of small, sloping edges with one distinct pocket. It’s additionally the main target of an accompanying video sponsored by Tenaya (distributed by Trango in North America) that may quickly premiere on Reel Rock Limitless.
The route is positioned in Sóller, Mallorca, simply an hour-and-a-half flight from his house in northern Spain. The video premiered on the Siurana Climbing Competition in Spain on Nov. 16 to a full home, and clips of it have gone viral since, reaching thousands and thousands of views on social media up to now week.
“That clip between Reel Rock and Tenaya—it’s gotten thousands and thousands of views. It’s loopy. The algorithms kicked in someway,” Sharma says.
We talked over WhatsApp from his house in Garraf, a small city close to Barcelona. Sharma defined how his proximity to the airport allowed him to make day journeys to Mallorca—dropping his youngsters off in school within the morning, flying to work on Black Pearl all day, and returning that very same night to tuck his youngsters into mattress.
The dialog seems like catching up with an outdated good friend. I’ve identified Chris (43) since we had been youngsters—we first crossed paths at Northern California comps, later bouldered in Camp 4, and frolicked in Bishop.
Earlier than diving into Black Pearl, he requested about my life and whether or not I used to be nonetheless climbing. I informed him that each one I do is climb, bike, and write, which he understood. “It’s tough, man,” he says. “I really feel actually grateful I’ve been capable of finding a stability to climb, maintain tasks alive, and handle household life. It’s not at all times simple.”
It’s 6 p.m. his time, and as his spouse and youngsters (6 and eight) watch X-Males within the background, Chris begins recounting the story of Black Pearl intimately.
Black Pearl is on the rugged west shoreline close to Sóller in Spain’s Balearic Islands. Not like different deep-water solos, Chris says, “The wall itself was clean and featureless in so many sections, making it really feel unlikely {that a} route like this might even exist.”
“I noticed this clean, grey wall with an ideal three-finger pocket, and it simply sparked my creativeness. It appeared virtually inconceivable at first. However that pocket in the midst of the wall—it was so distinct, so completely formed—it felt prefer it didn’t belong there, however that’s what made it magical. It’s the sort of factor you dream about discovering as a climber. However that one maintain—the pocket—gave me the imaginative and prescient to piece collectively the sequence.”
In an article on Climbing.com, Delaney Miller describes the road’s breakdown: it begins with a 5.13 part resulting in a relaxation, adopted by a 15-move crux capped with a dyno to the three-finger pocket. The crux itself clocks in at 5.14c with a V9 boulder downside. From there, it continues with 5.13b/c, climbing to the highest, ending at 100 toes.
Sharma despatched the route on Nov. 7, 2023. However social media viewers are desperate to see extra now that quick clips are displaying on-line and the video popping out quickly.
I couldn’t cease watching the above clip on repeat as Sharma and I talked—it was mesmerizing.
Two years after Chris first visited the cave holding Black Pearl, tragedy struck whereas climbing there in 2019. Sharma was together with his good friend and mentor Miguel Riera, a Mallorcan climber broadly credited because the founding father of deep water soloing.
“Miguel—he’s the founding father of deep water soloing, proper?” Sharma says. “He’s a Mallorcan climber who began doing that in 1978, like certainly one of my finest mates.”
Riera confirmed Sharma the cave proper after Sharma climbed Es Pontas. On the time, Riera had envisioned a crack venture close by however had misplaced his motivation for climbing lately. “However he received fired up once more and was making an attempt this crack that he had envisioned years in the past. It was actually cool as a result of we had these routes that we had been making an attempt collectively in the identical place,” Sharma says.
However that afternoon in 2019 didn’t go as deliberate. “The circumstances are actually sophisticated whenever you’re climbing proper by the ocean. The humidity and wind course can coat the wall with moisture, making it inconceivable to climb.
“There have been many instances I went to strive it and received fully shut down due to the climate—it was maddening.”
That day, Riera fell 45 toes onto his again whereas engaged on the crack venture.
“He was coughing up some blood, which is regular for a fall like that,” Chris says, “but it surely turned out he had lung most cancers that was someway triggered or activated.
“It was a loopy and tragic flip of occasions. After that fall, he received sick 10 days later, and inside a month, found he had lung most cancers. He handed away simply two months after that.
“We had shared this place, and he regretted not sending his route. I felt this dedication to see via what we each began collectively,” Chris says.
“Determining these [DWS] climbs on a rope is far more tough than going and bolting one thing,” he says. “You’re doing all these shenanigans—pendulums, tensioning your self off in each course, hook dynos—simply making an attempt to get to the place you have to be. It’s like this excessive, random rappelling course of.”
As we talked, Chris usually in contrast climbing to taking part in music or making artwork. The imaginative and prescient, dedication, and degree of mastery required to place up routes like Black Pearl.
Of that route, he says, “The shoreline is jagged and dramatic, with cliffs that drop straight into the ocean. There’s no path, no easy accessibility—simply sheer rock assembly the ocean. It’s not like a daily climbing space the place there are crowds or services. You’re fully alone, and it seems like the sting of the world.”
As for making his artwork, “For me, climbing is a artistic course of—sending a route seems like ending a portray and signing your identify on the backside. Discovering the following climb is its personal problem, however when you do, it’s about placing within the effort and time to appreciate it.”
Sharma locations Black Pearl as his hardest deep water solo up to now, however he already has his eyes on one thing new (which he didn’t go into element about however thinks it’s up there with Black Pearl so far as problem).
Black Pearl “is mainly proper up there with Es Pontas and Alasha. It’s laborious to check, but it surely might probably even be a bit more durable than each of these.”
Not like his earlier deep water solos, Black Pearl is exclusive for its endurance-based fashion making it really feel extra like a sport climb. Right here, Chris combines the technical problem of a 5.15a on a 45-degree overhanging face climb with the psychological and bodily calls for of soloing excessive above the ocean.
It’s totally different from Es Pontas (2006), a 5.15 in Mallorca that includes an iconic dyno throughout an enormous arch, and Alasha (2016), one other 5.15 with a dramatic roof part and excessive publicity.
“It’s not like a daily crag the place individuals are hanging out. Deep water soloing provides one other layer of complexity to climbing,” he says. “You’ll be able to’t simply take a relaxation in the midst of the wall. You’re both in it, otherwise you’re falling.”
Persevering with, he says, “You’re out in the midst of nowhere, surrounded by the ocean. It’s wild, distant, and simply this untouched place that feels so uncooked. And you must cope with the ocean spray, humidity, and wind, all of which may fully shut you down.”
Regardless of displaying as much as discover the crag out of situation, he stored coming. “You find yourself questioning all this stuff about what you’re doing. Like, why am I doing this? You get up to now the place it feels sort of ridiculous, however then you definitely discover this deeper drive to push via.
“Even with the circumstances being unpredictable, I dedicated to going each week. I needed to work across the humidity, waves, and timing, however finally, it got here collectively.”
“As a lot as I’d like to do extra climbing elsewhere, it turns into very difficult. Tasks away from house require me to be gone for a very long time, which complicates household life,” Sharma says.
“I’ve labored out a routine integrating day journeys into my household setup. I can drop my youngsters in school, fly to Mallorca, climb all day, and be again to kiss them goodnight. Consistency is so vital. Should you let a venture go chilly, it’s laborious to get again into it. You need to maintain the momentum going,” he says. Sharma likens it to “hanging the hammer whereas the iron is scorching. It’s worthwhile to maintain it alive and scorching as a result of whenever you lose the rhythm, issues unravel.”
He notes the challenges and rewards of this balancing act, saying, “I really feel actually grateful I’ve been capable of finding a stability to climb, maintain tasks alive, and handle household life.
It’s not at all times simple.” He provides, “I need to be current for my youngsters and don’t need to be away for months on finish, so I deal with tasks near house.”
Sharma notes the Black Pearl video’s departure from fashionable climbing movies. “I really feel like climbing movies are a lot in regards to the story lately, which is cool, however this piece was just about, like, core climbing. It’s extra about simply moving into the nitty-gritty of going mountain climbing.
“We didn’t attempt to overthink it or add layers of storytelling—it’s simply uncooked climbing, which I feel resonates in another way. It’s refreshing to deal with the motion and the climb itself with out an excessive amount of further context.”
Capturing the ship was no simple feat. “With sport climbing or different sorts of route climbing, you’ll be able to return and reshoot stuff, however with deep water soloing, you’ll be able to’t. You really want to seize it once I’m near sending it,” he says. “I can’t simply return and pose down the climb. You’ll be able to’t clip bolts or something—it doesn’t work like that.”
“It was actually cool that I used to be capable of seize the primary ascent of Black Pearl with Brett Lowell [of Big Up Productions/Reel Rock]. He’s my outdated buddy from perpetually, and he’s documented so lots of my first ascents. He got here in so we might seize this one.”
“It’s loopy to see one thing I did out in the midst of nowhere out of the blue being acquired by that many individuals,” Sharma says of the viral success of the video.
“With each new first ascent, I really feel like I’m including to a group of epic routes—a legacy of types,” he says.
“I attempt to do a rad FA yearly, you realize. Like, I don’t must do a bunch of them, but it surely’s like, I need to do one which feels significant and retains that momentum going.”
Keep tuned for his subsequent epic deep water solo first ascent.
