Sasha DiGiulian joines Laura Pineau for deep water soloing in France. Laura dropped the video for her new YouTube page launch, go follow it below.

France Deep Water Soloing

What is Deep Water Soloing?

Deep-water soloing, aka psicobloc, is climbing’s answer to surfing a reef break at golden hour. No ropes, no hardware, just you, the rock, and the ocean breathing beneath you. Big falls, tall walls and hard moves.

The roots of the style trace back to the 1970s on Mallorca, when local climbers started up the honeycombed limestone above the Mediterranean. For years it was an underground vibe, a word-of-mouth pursuit saved for those who didn’t mind a little adventure mixed with their swim. As tides, depth, and the perfect overhang lined up, so did a new culture: half climbing, half ocean ritual.

Then Chris Sharma showed up and rewrote the whole script. His ascents on Mallorca’s arches and sea caves, especially the now-mythic Es Pontàs 5.15a, were like watching someone surf a wave made of stone. Big dynos and iconic lines. A level of flow that made the entire climbing world lean in. Sharma didn’t just help put deep-water soloing on the map, he made it feel like the soul that hard climbing had been waiting for.