Mallorcan Deep Water Soloing pioneer Miquel Riera, 56, passed away after a battle with cancer on 9th October 2019. Daimon Beail shares a tribute to him.

Miquel Riera was known as ''the godfather of psicobloc' and was one of the key figures of the Mallorcan rock climbing scene. Miquel eventually became a household name when the words Mallorca and climbing were mentioned in the same sentence.

Born in 1963, Miquel was only 15 when he first stepped onto the climbing development scene in his experimentations with extended boulder problems over the sea at a venue called Porto Pi in Palma. It was 1978, and growing up in an era with no internet and no online communities, Miquel found it difficult to spread the word. As a result, his psicobloc developments went relatively unnoticed for twenty years, even though his discoveries were perhaps world-class and significantly ahead of their time.

It wasn't until 2001 after an email to Tim Emmett that things stepped up a gear and Mallorcan deep water soloing was showcased worldwide in the form of Cova del Diablo (now perceived as being the world's best deep water soloing venue), where Miquel played a key role in development. Over the years Miquel struck up many friendships with climbers from around the globe who were eager to get involved and experience Mallorca psicobloc for themselves. In particular, Chris Sharma and Miquel developed a special bond and have remained close friends ever since Chris's first visit to the island back in 2003.

Perhaps the key moment for Miquel - and the moment his name hit the world stage - was when he showed Chris Sharma the famous arch of Es Pontas and the impressive line which eventually became the world's hardest deep water solo in 2006. The documenting of this in the film King Lines took Mallorca to centre stage and Miquel and psicobloc became one and the same. Over time, the name psicobloc was adopted internationally, especially for competitions in the USA and Spain and it became the new word for Deep Water Soloing.

In Miquel's passionate pursuit of the sport, he also developed his own grading system, which functioned as a simpler, more open-ended grade system and took into account the difficulty and height of the crux move. Although this did not enter the public domain, the essence of this grading system can still be seen in his 2007 guidebook Psicobloc Mallorca, in which the height of the crux still remains. Miquel's love for climbing also included sport climbing, so much so that he later went on to produce his own guidebook to the sport climbing found on the island.

It's safe to say that Miquel's legacy is very much evident in Mallorca's popularity among sport climbers and those who visit for the world class deep water soloing/psicobloc found along the island's coastline. The rich history of the island's development has Miquel's influence at the heart of it.

To many, Miquel came across as a passionate and at times comical person whose passion for the sport touched and inspired many people around the world. He will always be remembered as a revolutionary and pioneering figure in the world of psicobloc.