Mallorca: Deep Water Solo
Posted on Monday, October 8th, 2007
This September I had the opportunity to travel to the Spanish island of Mallorca to try the insane and increasingly popular sport of Psicobloc, or deep-water soloing. Chris Sharma, one of the world’s best climbers, increased the sport’s popularity by sending routes in Greece and Mallorca in his newest movie, King Lines. He makes it look easy.
Just like other forms of climbing, the goal is pretty simple: to avoid falling off of whatever you’re climbing on.
While mountaineers climb high, they rarely fall. Boulderers fall all the time but rarely from more than 10 or 15 feet.
In my mind, psicobloc has just the right blend of difficulty, athleticism and consequences. Climbers are enticed to try their hardest due to the low risk of lasting bodily harm, but there are very real consequences for failing: one very large, very wet consequence.
What most people don’t realize about the soloing in Mallorca is that there are actually loads of beginner-friendly areas. Caves like the ones at the beach of Cala Varcas hold about as much danger as your local bouldering gym. The routes are moderate in difficulty and well traveled, and generally top out at no more than 30 feet. I spent my first couple days at areas like this practicing the style of climbing and learning how to correct for different kinds of falls.
One of my projects was a climb called Loskot and Two Smoking Barrels. It was first done by the climbing legend Klem Loskot. I did OK at the beginning, which features with 35 feet of easy climbing to get to a no-hands rest. The vicious seven-foot dyno across a blank section of wall gave me some problems. The feeling of jumping with both hands and both feet off the rock 40 feet out over the water is indescribable. The slap of the ocean after falling 40 feet on four consecutive tries is describable in one word: ouch.
The scene at the crags is much more like surfing or bouldering than solo rock climbing. In fact, you’re rarely solo. It’s common to hear encouragement coming from all directions in several languages during an attempt. “Venga! Venga!” from the Spaniards. “Ale! Ale” from the French, “Go for it!” from the Americans and “Go for it, eh?” from the Canadians.
On my fifth try I was able to stick the dyno and finish out the rest of the route. The adrenaline made my hands shake for several minutes, even after I got down to terra firma.
After a day in the sun, in the water and on the rock, we bought fresh fish and cooked them by the beach. We ate the catch, drank wine, and talked about where we would climb tomorrow.
I think it is good that you are going have met new places and learned new things. Your friends will always keep you company and cheer you on when your stuck so i hope you had a happy trip.
Mallorca for ever !
I went twice over there, and that won’t be the last !
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