James Pearson multi pitch 8b+ in France....
29th Jun 2011
James Pearson and Caroline Ciavaldini recently made the 3rd and 4th ascents of the multi pitch route, Les Chemins de Katmandou, Gorges de la Jonte, 8b+ max.
It took just two day of work for James to succeed the whole route, with a further two days needed for Caroline. Chemins de Katmandou was equipped by Laurent Triay, in 2002, who made the first ascent, followed by Chris Sharma.
James and Carloine below the very bulgy final 8b+ pitch...
Caroline reports, “James fell on an old copy of Climbing from 2003, with Sharma’s note book published, and passed it to me feeling there were interesting ideas about motivation and comp. However, what caught my attention was a picture in Chemins de Katmandou; the route seemed amazing, and also close from my home, and here we were, dreaming of trying it as soon as possible. Chemin kept its promises’ and was a wonderful adventure. The last pitch in 8b+ is especially unbelievable; a bulging overhang, far above the gorge, perfect moves and holds, with Eagles planning just 20m from our heads!”
James has recently become more and more interested in the world of multi-pitch and big walls, and Les Chemins de Katmandou is the beginning of his next project.
From his blog, James commented “The eventual idea is to create something very long, very hard, and very scary, but this final phase is still quite a long way off in the future. Now is the time to begin developing the necessary skills, by attempting and repeating certain existing routes, some classic, some obscure, in the style of the separate components of the master plan.”
When asked about the crux pitch, James feels “the 3rd pitch is simply exquisite – a contender for the best route I have climbed on limestone!”
James is a trad virtuoso and Caroline a pure comp climber, you couldn’t imagine two more different climbers. Together they teach each other skills, and Les Chemins de Katmandou is their first step to other multi-pitch adventures…
See James on some E9 and E10 routes in Pembroke here...including the first ever E10 ground up...
Caroline eyes up the objective - the line marked in red in the distance...
