Deep-water soloing

thumb| deep-water soloing at Kamenjak, Croatia (from the 2009 climbing film, Le Tango Vertical)

Deep-water soloing (DWS), also known as psicobloc (from "psycho-bouldering"), is a form of free solo climbing where a fall should result in the climber landing safely in deep water below the route. DWS is considered safer than normal free solo climbing but riskier than normal bouldering, because of several risks of its own, including trauma from uncontrolled high-speed water entry, injury from hitting hazards above and below the water while falling, and drowning in rough or tidal seas.

Deep-water soloing traces its roots to the discovery in 1978 of Cova Del Dimoni in Mallorca by Miquel Riera, and was further popularised and developed by British climbers Tim Emmett, Mike Robertson, and Neil Gresham, and Austrian climber Klem Loskot. DWS came to worldwide attention with Chris Sharma's 2006 ascent of the dramatic Mallorcan sea arch of Es Pontàs, which at the climbing grade of made it one of the hardest rock-climbing routes in the world—of any type—at the time.

DWS uses sport-climbing grading systems (mostly French grades) with an additional S-grading system to reflect the unique risks of DWS on any route; DWS routes can vary from less than to over in height at the extreme end. Competition deep-water soloing has become popular, particularly in head-to-head "dueling" formats, and the "Psicobloc Masters Series" (2011, 2012–2018), which later evolved into the "Psicobloc Open Series" is one of the most notable DWS competitions.

Description

thumb|left|upright=0.8|[[Isabelle Patissier deep-water soloing on the sea cliffs at Calanques in France]]

Deep-water soloing, or DWS, is free solo climbing where any fall should land the climber in deep water below the route. It is thus considered a safer version of free solo climbing. It is not considered as safe as bouldering as the DWS climber encounters hazards that are unique to DWS, including injury or trauma on impact with the water or hitting hazards in the water (particularly from higher falls or uncontrolled falls), risk of drowning in rough seas and hitting the rock face before entering the water. Changing tides is a serious risk in DWS, as routes that might be safe at high tide can become dangerous at lower tide, bringing underwater hazards into play.

Other leading European DWS locations include Croatia (Split and Sustipan), Portugal (Azores), Sardinia (Capo Testa and Capo Caccia), Malta (cliffs of Gozo and Comino), and the sea cliffs of the Calanques in France.
In Britain and Ireland, DWS locations include Dorset, Devon, and Pembrokeshire, and Ailladie in Ireland.
In Southeast Asia, leading DWS locations include Thailand (all along Railay Beach), Vietnam (Hạ Long Bay and Cát Bà Island in particular), Malaysia (at Langkawi), and the Philippines (at El Nido, Palawan).
In North America, DWS locations include Clear Creek Reservoir in Winslow, Arizona, and Becket Quarry in Becket, Massachusetts.

History

thumb|Climber on Smash it in! , Cala Varques, [[Mallorca]]

Deep-water soloing has its roots in Mallorca when in 1978, Miquel Riera became frustrated with the aid climbing routes in his local area so he went to Porto Pi, Palma, with fellow climbers Jaume Payeras, Eduardo Moreno, and Pau Bover to find routes they could free climb.

In September 2006, DWS came to international attention when Sharma completed the right-hand finish to a line that climbed the underside of the dramatic Es Pontàs arch in Mallorca and carried a grade of , the hardest-ever DWS grade. Sharma had been looking for a DWS-equivalent to his 2001 sport climb, Realization, also , and his first free ascent was featured in the 2007 film King Lines. In 2019, the series moved to Montreal, and was branded the "Psicobloc Open Series", and is now held at various venues around the world. The Psicobloc Open format is a circa outdoor artificial climbing wall that severely overhangs a circa swimming pool. Climbers "duel" in head-to-head races on the wall in a series of knock-out rounds, like in competition speed climbing, until the ultimate winner is decided. Climbers compete in men's, women's, and youth's formats. Not all DWS competitions follow this approach, and others have used a typical competition lead climbing or competition bouldering format where the climbers—climbing alone and not head-to-head—try to get to the highest point possible (or the most highest points on several shorter routes), in a set time allowance; these have tended to be outdoor routes that are on natural rock surfaces. A notable example was the once-off 2016 PsicoRoc DWS competition held over West Virginia's Summersville Lake, which was the first-ever DWS competition in the United States on natural rock, and which was chronicled in the award winning short-documentary film, Wild and Wonderful.

Risks

DWS presents a number of specific risks not normally encountered in rock climbing.

thumb|Sequence of a DWS climber making an "Armchair Landing"

Water entry: A fall into deep water from a height of over can seriously injure the climber, particularly if the entry is not controlled.

Equipment

thumb|Climbers launching a [[dingy at Cova del Diablo, Mallorca]]

Like free solo climbing, DWS needs very little climbing equipment outside of the chalk bag and rock climbing shoes. A number of items of equipment have become common amongst DWS climbers, including:

Bench seats/ladders. Some DWS routes have makeshift wooden benches and small rope ladders installed at the base of the routes, hanging from pieces of protection, to enable the DWS climber to access the route, and rest/dry-off between attempts.
Tape harnesses. DWS climbers do not typically use a climbing harness; however, many DWS routes require the climber to abseil down the rock face to access the route (unless they can use the inflatable dingy). For this, they can use a makeshift harness made from a climbing sling.

S-grades

In 1995, British DWS climbers developed an S-grade system to grade for the objective level of danger that deep water soloing a given route presented to the climber in addition to the "technical difficulty" grade (above).

The four levels of S-grade, as described by Mike Robinson in Deep Water (2007), are as follows:

2016: Alasha , Mallorca in Spain. First ascent was by Chris Sharma who left it ungraded and named it after his daughter; his descriptions led to media speculation that it was ; Jakob Schubert and Jernej Kruder made repeats in 2021, and estimated that its grade to be circa 9a, which takes account of the fact that the crux is at an intimidating height of .

2017: The King , Pont d'Arc in France. First ascent by Chris Sharma; while not one of Sharma's hardest DWS routes, the great height of the arch ( at the apex) and its natural beauty, attracted significant attention; the route is now named The King.

2018: Weatherman , Mallorca in Spain. Julia Kruder repeated Chris Sharma's route, and becomes the first female to climb a DWS route at the grade of 8a+.

2024: Poseidon's Kiss , Mallorca in Spain. Hannes Van Duysen becomes the first person to flash an graded DWS route with his ascend of Philipp Geisenhoff's 2022 DWS route.

In film

A number of notable films have been made focused on DWS free solo climbing including:

King Lines, a 2007 documentary film about Chris Sharma, featuring his free solo climb of the DWS route, Es Pontàs , in Mallorca.
Deep Water, a 2020 short documentary film featuring Tim Emmett and Kyra Condie soloing in Hạ Long Bay in Vietnam.

References

External links

Video: This Has to Be the Most Iconic Chris Sharma Video, DWS of Es Pontas (9a+), Climbing (April 2021)
Video: The 6 Best European DWS destinations that aren’t Mallorca!, British Mountaineering Council (2017)