The route involves a huge all points off dyno in the middle and was, until recently, an unclimbed project.
Pearson has had a remarkable two years living in the Austrian climbing hotbed of Innsbruck, and during this time has transformed his climbing from being a very British super-technical trad and boulder specialist to a lactic acid tolerant Euro sport monster. Eventually taking this new found fitness to the limestone of Pembroke and walking up hard E graded routes before breakfast.
James' ascent of The Source is his parting shot to Innsbruck as he moves on, relocating to France.
Commenting on his blog, James said:
"When I first moved to Innsbruck, The Source was known as "the Sprung project", due to its crazy all points off dyno in the middle of the route. I tried the project during my first visit to Schwarze Wand, pulling through the quickdraws to arrive in the jump, then failing miserably on the move, again and again and again, finally lowering off thinking it would be a damn hard route.
Two years later, and a lot has changed. The project has become The Source, 8c+, and I find myself back at the black wall (Schwarze Wand) a little fitter than before. After climbing up to, and sticking the dyno on my first red-point try, I fall in the next boulder just 2 moves above. It turns out that the dyno is only the beginning of the troubles, and that from here to the top, the route is a series of continuous and varied boulder problems.
In the past this would have been the end of everything, with simply no chance of recovering enough from the previous to complete the next...
1 day and 3 tries later, I clip the chain of my favourite route ever..."
- For more info and photos look at James' Blog.
You can keep up to date with James on his website: www.realbigpimp.in
James Pearson is sponsored by Wild Country , Five Ten , The North Face , Adidas Eyewear
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