James Pearson makes first repeat of Franco Cookson's bold trad climb Immortal

British climber James Pearson has made the first repeat of the bold trad climb Immortal at Maiden's Bluff, Yorkshire, UK. The route was first ascended in April 2021 by Franco Cookson who originally graded it E11, suggesting therefore it was one of the most difficult and dangerous in the country.

Pearson needed just two sessions to repeat the line. The first, on his own in August 2022 simply to see if the route might suit him, and the second last week with Neil Gresham, Steve McClure and Chris Hudgins. Pearson told planetmountain he used a slightly different sequence to Cookson; precisely the same holds, but in a different hand order which made the crux feel a bit more secure. In order to reduce his chances of hitting the deck in the event of a fall, he used two belayers: McClure held his rope clipped into the tied-off skyhooks, while Hudgins held the rope to the right clipped to a good Friend circa one-third of the way up the route.

Pearson has not put forward a grade but the speed with which he repeated the line has led him to believe the route is somewhat easier than originally suggested. Writing on his IG account he concluded, somewhat reluctantly it must be said: "An E grade is a combination of a lot of elements, and like Franco has already said, Immortal is a tricky one to grade. It's very short, very morpho, and almost, but not quite a slab. It has very odd, hard to quantify protection, that if good, could make it ‘safe’, but if bad is almost a solo. All of these variables give eGrader a hard time, but if we go back to my gut feeling (totally trustworthy, right?), I feel like I simply climbed it too quickly, and felt too chilled for it to be E11."

For those interested in details: this is one of the very rare occasions in which Pearson opted to climb without a helmet. On the crux the moves are so precarious, and Pearson so close to the rock face, that he felt a helmet might scrape against the wall and push his body off the route while reaching for the undercling. After much consideration he decided the moves without the helmet were solid enough and the chance of a fall far smaller than with a helmet. Interesting how things are never clear-cut.

Link: La Sportiva, The North Face

 

 

 

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A post shared by James Pearson & Caro Ciavaldini (@onceuponaclimb)