Miquel Riera

个人简介

Deep-water soloing (DWS), also known as psicobloc (from "psycho-bouldering"), is a form of free solo climbing where a fall should result in the climber landing safely in deep water below the route. DWS is considered safer than normal free solo climbing but riskier than normal bouldering, because of several risks of its own, including trauma from uncontrolled high-speed water entry, injury from hitting hazards above and below the water while falling, and drowning in rough or tidal seas. Deep-water soloing traces its roots to the discovery in 1978 of Cova Del Dimoni in Mallorca by Miquel Riera, and was further popularised and developed by British climbers Tim Emmett, Mike Robertson, and Neil Gresham, and Austrian climber Klem Loskot. DWS came to worldwide attention with Chris Sharma's 2006 ascent of the dramatic Mallorcan sea arch of Es Pontàs, which at the climbing grade of 5.15a (9a+) made it one of the hardest rock-climbing routes in the world—of any type—at the time. DWS uses sport-climbing grading systems (mostly French grades) with an additional S-grading system to reflect the unique risks of DWS on any route; DWS routes can vary from less than 5 metres (16 ft) to over 40 metres (130 ft) in height at the extreme end. Competition deep-water soloing has become popular, particularly in head-to-head "dueling" formats, and the "Psicobloc Masters Series" (2011, 2012–2018), which later evolved into the "Psicobloc Open Series" is one of the most notable DWS competitions.