James Pearson Completes Long-Term Bouldering Project
Mystic River V15 has to be one of the most stunning boulders anywhere
Photo by: Sam Pratt
James Pearson recently made the third ascent of Mystic River V15 (8C) in Brione, Switzerland. The problem is found on a gorgeous riverside boulder, with the line weaving up colourful, water-carved stone. Mystic River was opened by Giuliano Cameroni in January 2021, and the problem saw its second ascent later that day from Shawn Raboutou. Pearson first tried the bloc in February 2023. He worked the problem on and off across 10 sessions over the past two years.
Mystic River is Pearson’s second of the grade. In 2022, he climbed his first V15, Juneru in Albarracin, Spain. He has several V14s to his name, and many V13s. In sport climbing, he’s ticked 5.14d multiple times. While these bouldering and sport accomplishments are impressive, Pearson is best known for his trad climbing. In early 2024, he established one of the hardest all-gear lines in the world, Bon Voyage. Located in Annot, France, the stunning sandstone route clocks in at E12 or 5.14d. His list of hard trad repeats is long, including Dave MacLeod’s Rhapsody E11, Jacopo Larcher’s Tribe E11, and Neil Gresham’s Lexicon E11, among many others.
To learn more about Pearson’s ascent of Mystic River, read his story about the climb below.
Pearson’s experience with Mystic River
My last long-term boulder project was ‘The Buttermilker’ in Bishop, California, back when I had just turned 18. I
think I spent around 10 days on that problem. After that, my attention was diverted to other types of climbing and
I haven’t invested that amount of time in a boulder since.
When I first saw footage of Mystic River a couple of years ago, I remember being amazed by the beauty of the rock
and the complexity of the moves. I remember saying to myself how I would love to try it one day… I had no idea
how big of a part of my life it would actually become.
I first looked at the boulder on a family bouldering trip in Switzerland. I’d not been back to Ticino for 15 years, and
I was excited to explore some of the new developments, in the hope of finding a project to work on. I tried a lot of
really nice boulders on that trip, including ‘Unison’, Poison The Well’, and even ‘Alphane’, but it was Mystic River
that really grabbed my attention. Back, then the landing was pretty bad. There was very little sand and pebbles,
just a gentle slope of river washed, granite, leading into a cold deep pool. It was difficult to try the boulder without
a spotter, and I remember thinking that if I wanted to try this seriously, I might need to get creative.
We returned the following year and this time I started to invest serious time into Mystic River. I was already
making good links on the boulder and hoped I might finish it. The river had deposited a nice beach of sand and
pebbles underneath, and I started to feel confident trying it on my own. There were still a couple of exciting
moments, where I would spontaneously dry-fire horizontally off the boulder when I tried to build my feet up high
for the crux move, but I never quite made it to the water!
By the end of that trip, the skin on my left hand was destroyed from the singular sharp crux crimp, and my right
heel was throbbing from the intense hooks! I had started to regress and knew I’d have to come back for it. Yet, by
the time I could get away again, I had some friends send me photos of the river, which was already way too high!
From that point, my obsession with this boulder really began. Sending messages to anyone I knew, who was in
Brione, who could potentially check the height of the river for me, planning ways that I could potentially build up
the landing, so I could try it again, even if the water might be unseasonably high.
In January of this year, I took the chance to head down for a couple of days on my own. Normally the height of the
river swells during the summer months and decreases over winter, but as I arrived in Brione, I could see that the
river was high, and as I made my way down to the boulder, I found the remnants of a tiny landing. Perhaps
enough to try a couple of the moves with a spotter, but no way near enough for me to try on my own.
Luckily, the river had left a huge bank of sand and pebbles just on the right, so I grabbed a small spade from the
van and in a couple of hours I’d fashioned a nice flat landing. I had one great session on the boulder, where I fell on the last move and made it consistently through the first half of the problem. By the end of that visit, I knew I could
do it… I just needed a bit more time.
I don’t enjoy being away from Caro and the kids, yet I was so invested in this boulder, that I was desperate to go
back. My plan was to go back to Ticino just before the school holidays began so I could finish it off, and be back in
time to do some fun things with the kids. I said goodbye and drove the 10-hour journey to Ticino, alone. I headed
directly to Mystic River, and found the lovely flat landing I had left behind, on my last visit, now submerged under
20 cm of water!
Two days of digging later, I managed to move enough rock and sand from elsewhere in the riverbed to make a
small beach just big enough for my crash pads! It was backbreaking work, but the only option… well, actually, the
sensible choice might have been to enjoy any one of the thousands of other amazing boulders in Ticino, but by this
point it might be clear that my relationship with this boulder was anything but sensible.
For the next week I lived and breathed Mystic River as I tried to unravel its mysteries. Some sessions felt great,
and in others I could barely pull on. Some attempts I fell on the last move, and on the next go I would fall off the
first or second. Never have I tried a boulder that is so hard to climb!
Whilst the individual moves themselves are not particularly difficult (at least in comparison to other boulders
around this grade) they are all, without fail, extremely easy to fall off of. The river polished granite allows for no
mistakes in placement or movement, and dry fires and foot slips are never far away.
Little by little, I whittled away and began to feel like I could do it, but it was almost time to get back to France and
I had to make every session count.
The session I climbed, Mystic River was a perfect example of everything. I love and hate about this boulder. When I
arrived at the Boulder, I’d all but decided not to climb as I thought the conditions would get better later in the day.
Then randomly, a young Italian climber named Pietro Vidi, turned up and asked if I minded if he tried it with me. I
still wasn’t convinced by the conditions, but thought it was worth a try anyway, as it would be nice to actually
climb with someone else for a change.
Pietro is a great climber. He’s in his early 20s but has already bouldered several 8C+ boulders, and repeated Tribe,
one of the world’s hardest traditional routes. He also happens to be great at knee-bars, and I was pleased to
watch him discover a more secure way of using the crucial right knee-bar, that made the middle section feel a little
more controlled. I made a really good first try, falling on the final move and a then a few more goes, falling with
an unexpected hand or foot slip each time. Everything started to fall to pieces. I spent four or five attempts falling
on the first or second move, incapable of making the right heel hook stick. I thought this might be the end of the
session… Perhaps the conditions had changed, or perhaps, I was just simply too tired after almost a week of trying
the same moves. I almost gave up, knowing that this would probably be my final session of the trip, but decided to
take a long rest, change my shoes, and try a few more times… Then I did it on my next go!
The successful attempt wasn’t any different to many of my previous attempts. I didn’t feel particularly solid, or
locked in, but either from luck or practice I made few mistakes. Still, it was almost a surprise to actually catch the
hold on the last hard move, and you can even hear my delayed scream in the video when I realise I’m still hanging
on. Really happy I practised the last slab because even though it’s not very hard, I could imagine falling up there
with legs as shaky as mine were. I topped out the boulder in a state of disbelief. I’m not sure if the amount of work
I had to put in to climb this thing was objectively worth it… But it sure made that moment feel pretty amazing!
Giuliano Cameroni and Shawn Raboutou on Mystic River V15
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