December 06, 2024
The journey behind Chris Sharma's Black Pearl
This week we dropped our latest film, Black Pearl, on Reel Rock Unlimited. It documents Chris Sharma’s first ascent of what could be his hardest deep water solo route yet, along with a glimpse of his new crag, and Matty Hong’s second ascent of Sharma’s route Big Fish, which went six years without a repeat. Subscribers can watch Black Pearl now.
Read on for director Josh Lowell’s behind-the-scenes story about Black Pearl and shooting with Sharma in Mallorca over the years.
I’ve been filming deep water soloing in Mallorca since 2001. I was in Austria shooting with Klem Loskot, and the Mallorcan climber Miquel Riera was there writing an article about Klem for a Spanish magazine. Miquel raved to us about perfect orange limestone caves jutting from the warm Mediterranean Sea. About the freedom and excitement of climbing ropeless, with the water as a crashpad. And about the topless sunbathers lounging on the beaches near the crags. Klem was easily convinced, and planned a trip with the Brit Tim Emmett, who’d already done some DWS on UK sea cliffs. My brother Brett and I tagged along.
We filmed at the Diablo Wall, a massive amphitheater of impeccable rock with dozens of possible lines. Klem did the first ascent of a route with a wild dyno to a pair of giant jug pockets at a height of 40 feet, and proposed the name Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, after the recent Guy Richie movie. I couldn’t resist taking the creative liberty to overrule him on the name. It had to be Loskot and Two Smoking Barrels. When the short film came out (Psicobloc Part 1) people’s minds were blown by this spectacular new style of climbing, and that ropeless dyno was seared into the imaginations of a generation of climbers.
After day one shooting in Mallorca, one of the first things Brett and I said to each other was “holy shit, Sharma would love this.” We showed him a few clips, he was instantly sold, and soon we were back on the island, with the strongest climber in the world, 20-year-old Chris Sharma. He flashed Loskot, and we set out exploring new zones with Klem, Miquel, and Chris. That trip changed his life.
As a person who chafed against the rigid confines of many aspects of the sport, Chris found joy in the unrestrained movement of climbing ropeless above the sea. He would often spend thirty minutes on the wall, exploring, wandering, resting, just connecting with the rock. Being by the water reminded him of his roots in Santa Cruz, CA, and he saw endless potential for hard new lines. It had the purity and simplicity of free soloing, but with a margin for error, so you could actually push limits and take falls.
Chris moved to Spain, and returned to Mallorca many times over the following years. He developed a close friendship with Miquel, who had begun soloing on Mallorca’s sea cliffs in 1978 and coined the name “Psicobloc.” The two of them explored the coastline together, developing new zones, and it was Miquel who showed Chris the line that would become the most iconic Psicobloc route of all time - Es Pontas. We spent many weeks filming Chris’ efforts to climb that magnificent free standing arch, and it was the grand finale of our feature documentary King Lines. It was a decade before anybody else could do it.
Es Pontas. Photo by Brett Lowell
Chris and Miquel began exploring the more rugged north coast of Mallorca, opening mega lines in bigger caves near Port de Soller. In 2016 Chris climbed Alasha, a possible 5.15 named after his daughter (Alana Sharma) and featured in our film Above The Sea. The following year he sent Big Fish, which features a V12 crux with a dyno at 70 feet above the water.
In 2019, Chris began trying a new line he’d imagined in the same cave as Big Fish. He’d spied a perfectly round three-finger pocket in the middle of a seemingly blank, super-steep face. Rappelling in from the lip of the cliff at 100 feet, he discovered a series of vague pinches and slopey edges below the pocket. A new obsession was born. He spent that season trying the project that would become Black Pearl, while Miquel worked on another new route to the left.
Chris and Miquel on their projects in the cave
During one session, Miquel took a hard fall onto his back, and he came up coughing blood. He went to get X-Rays, and the doctors discovered that he had lung cancer. Within a few months, Miquel passed away. He asked Chris and his closest friends to throw his ashes into the sea, at the same cave where they’d been trying their projects together. Chris has been returning ever since, determined to finish Black Pearl. Determined to finish what he and Miquel had started together.
I have so many memories of Miquel from our shoots over the years. He shared his island with us, shared his passion, showed us his crags. He brought us to clubs, made us a paella with snails he raised in a terrarium, and was constantly making us laugh. He joked about his job in the desalination plant - “I am like Homer Simpson. Alarm is going, woo woo woo, I know nothing, I do nothing!” He had an uncontrollable urge to get naked whenever possible, so you’d often top out a route to see him basking desnudo in the full sun, because, he said, “when it’s darker, it look bigger!”
Chris, Josh, and Miquel during the filming of King Lines in 2005. Photo by Brett Lowell.
Over the last few seasons, Chris made gradual progress on Black Pearl. He lives near the airport outside Barcelona, so he’s able to hop on a quick flight to Palma in the morning, give a few burns on the project if it’s dry, and sometimes be back home in time to tuck his two young kids into bed.
This past fall we were back in Mallorca shooting with Angie Scarth-Johnson and Hazel Findlay for the RR18 film Yeah Buddy. Sharma came out to give them a tour of some newer walls, and of course had to take a couple rips on Black Pearl. The moves were spectacular and he was getting close. He said it could be even harder than his other iconic routes, Es Pontas, Alasha, and Big Fish. He also reminded our cameraman, the crusher Matty Hong, that Big Fish had never been repeated, six years after Chris put it up. Things snowballed from there.![]()
Sharma working on Black Pearl. Photos by Matty Hong.
Chris redoubled his efforts on the project while Matty and the Slovenian climber Jernej Kruder threw themselves at Big Fish. Jernej had made the first repeat of Es Pontas, and was looking to do the same on Big Fish. They took massive whippers from every move on the crux section, at a height of 70 feet. Finally, after several weeks, Matty stuck the huge move to the finish jug and topped the route out for its second ascent.
On Black Pearl, Chris was falling on the crossover dyno to the three finger pocket that had first caught his eye. We were home, but he called to let us know he had it lined up - all he needed was his good luck charm - Brett Lowell. Brett’s been there, hanging on a rope, holding a camera, for many of Sharma’s biggest sends, including Biographie, Jumbo Love, Es Pontas, and more. When he shows up, you know something’s about to happen.
Brett Lowell - DP and rescue guy. Photo by Sebastian Alvarez Pedrero.
Dangling above the water as Chris started up the route, Brett was not only director of photography, trying to capture beautiful footage, but also the safety guy, with an orange foam floaty clipped over his shoulder in case Chris took a bad fall or got stuck in big waves.
After a couple heartbreaker falls from the pocket, Chris finally stuck it, swinging wildly, and carried on through the 5.13 upper section, topping out at 100 feet. Black Pearl was complete. The first thing he said was “Yes Miquel, we did it brother!” He took a moment to recognize the life and influence of his friend, and the godfather of Psicobloc, Miquel Riera.
Sebas, Brett, and Chris after the first ascent of Black Pearl
For years, Miquel had climbed alone on these seacliffs, telling anyone who would listen how special it was, but nobody came. Starting with Klem, Tim, and then Chris, some of the world’s best climbers finally caught on, and the films we made together turned Mallorca into a premiere destination for climbers looking for a uniquely exhilarating experience on the rock.
For a while I think people may have wondered why Sharma was spending so much time on this seemingly esoteric pursuit. But these days, his best routes are seen as monuments, and more top climbers are coming through every season, repeating his lines, searching for new ones, celebrating the magic of this place. Miquel would be so proud.