James Pearson - more 8c's and a load of hard onsights too...
24th Dec 2011
James Pearson's just been in touch with an update from France, his new home, where he's been sending routes like it's going out of fashio
n with some very hard onsights as well as some classy redpointing too...
James a few months ago on his ascent of Joy Division.....multipitch 8b....
"Just a quick email to let you know some of the news from the last week here in France. After coming back from a crazy trip to Mexico, I fell right back into climbing mode with a visit to Cantobre. It was my first ever visit to this cliff and I was very excited to climb on the pockets - quite an unusual style for these parts. I onsighted 4 cool routes - Les Dernieres Plantations du Christ (8a), Mission Impossible (8a+), Torticolis (8a+), and finally CO2 Max (8b). Caroline also on-sighted Les Dernieres Plantations du Christ and redpointed CO2 Max on her 2nd try.
Next, it was onto my birthday celebrations, which Caroline had organised to begin at Seynes - one of the hottest cliffs in the world, full sun in the south of France. Our aim for the visit was Metaphysique des Tubes - a long, bouldery-resistance 8c, that happily, Caroline and I both climbed on our 2nd try, one after the other. A nice birthday present :)
After the La Sportiva party in Lyon, and a day testing out routes for an upcoming round of the French Lead Cup, we visited our local cliff of Claret for what will be our last day on French limestone for a few months. It was a nice way to say goodbye to the Country, as the sun was shining, and we both left with successful ascents of our projects for the day. Guere d'usure (8c) for me, and Biotope (8b+) for Caroline.
Not a bad few days and a reminder of just how incredible the climbing in the South of France is. Next, it is off to Asia for exploring new developments in Malaysia and Laos..."
