Chris Sharma’s New Deep Water Solo 5.15a
Black Pearl is now one of the highest and most difficult deep water solo routes ever climbed
Chris Sharma has made the first ascent of a new deep water solo route called Black Pearl 5.15a in Soller, Mallorica. It’s one of his hardest psicobloc climbs to date.
Sharma had tried Black Pearl, which follows a stunning line for 40 metres above the water, several times over the years. It’s the latest from Sharma, who’s established other difficult deep water solo routes in Spain, such as El Pontas 5.15 and Alasha 5.14d.
Earlier this year, Sharma made the first ascent of Sleeping Lion, one of the world’s hardest routes at 5.15c. Black Pearl climbs up next to Big Fish 5.14c, which Sharma climbed in 2017 and which Matty Hong repeated last month.
Deep water soloing started in the late 1970s thanks to Miquel Riera and friends. They started to publicise the sport in the early 1980s. It became more popular internationally in 2006 when Sharma made the first ascent of Es Pontas. His ascent was featured in the 2007 film King Lines, watch the trailer below.
King Lines Trailer
Big Fish FA
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