Pearson Makes 5.14d Ascent in Spain

3/16/12 - Briton James Pearson has completed his first 5.14d, Esclatamasters, in Oliana, Spain. The 26-year-old climber made Esclatamasters a project after sending Mind Control (5.14c) about two weeks earlier.

“With Mind Control in the bag, I moved on to my planned ‘long-term project’ in the form of Esclatamasters at the little visited cliff of Perles,” wrote Pearson in his blog. (See his blog for photos.)

Pearson was forced to take a break from the route after he ripped “a hole the size of Andorra in [his] middle finger,” on March 11. However, after three days of rest in France with his girlfriend, Caroline Ciavaldini, Pearson came back strong and sent the route, marking his hardest ascent to date.

Pearson has been making splashes in the climbing world for years now, as one of the few climbers who can say they’ve flashed a V13. Pearson has flashed three, including Schule des Lebens in Switzerland.

Pearson is also well known for having climbed one of the “last great problems” of English gritstone, The Groove (E10 7b), in 2008, a difficult line that climbers had been attempting since the 1970s.

Ciavaldini has also been climbing strong in Spain, with the third female ascent of Mind Control and an ascent of Fish Eye (5.14b).

Date of ascent: March 14, 2012

Source: jpclimbing.com

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