Black Pearl 5.15a (9a+)

Black Pearl is a deep-water solo on the sea cliffs near Sóller, on Mallorca's northwest coast, climbed by Chris Sharma without ropes above the Mediterranean. The line runs up a roughly 100-foot overhanging wall that is smooth and largely featureless, relying on slopey edges and a single three-finger pocket that Sharma called the key to unlocking the whole sequence. Sharma graded it 5.15a (9a+), putting it at the very top of deep-water soloing and on par with his own Es Pontàs and Alasha, two of the routes that defined the discipline.

History

Sharma first tried the line in 2017 and returned to it over several years before making the first ascent on November 7, 2023. By his own breakdown, the route opens with 5.13a/b climbing to a rest, then a roughly 15-move crux he compared to 5.14b/c leading into a dyno rated around V9 to reach the pocket, before finishing on sustained 5.13b/c climbing to the top of the cliff. He has said it could be even harder than Es Pontàs, the 2006 first ascent that first made him known for deep-water soloing.

On film

Black Pearl (2023), from Reel Rock, documents Sharma's return to Mallorca's sea cliffs years after Es Pontàs and his first ascent of this line. The film frames it as a continuation of the deep-water soloing he pioneered there, showing the physical toll of repeated attempts and falls into the water below as he worked out the sequence through the blank wall to the pocket and the top-out.