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Rachel Elin Pearce

@rachel.pearce94

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A passionate climber navigating my Saturn return 🌙
Kindly supported by @petzl_official @mountainequipment @lasportivauk @outside.co.uk

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Strawberries dream topping E7 7a, @rachel.pearce94 making things look relatively easy. Getting to grips with the film making process, second camera 🎥@sambeaumontmedia #film#climbing#tradclimbing#extremerock#adventurefilmmaking #climbinginspiration #wales#adventure by @rachel.pearce94

Do you find routes easier on lead or top rope ?
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Normally I have always found that I give it that extra push on lead. However recently I’ve found it to be different, getting nervous, shaky and a bit of Elvis leg going. I wondered why, but then realised the answer is obvious! I’m trying routes where falling off and hurting yourself isn’t completely out of the question and a little bit unknown. Previously most routes I’ve headpointed have pretty much all been safe, and I can try hard and give it some like on sport. But for example the crux moves going up the arête on ‘day of the triffids’ is above lots of small rps, and whilst I thought that a couple where good there is still that little bit of doubt in your mind. When I did get scared though I really tried to use breathing to calm me back down and just focus on the moves that I knew how to do. The power of the breath is amazing, and just before going into a crux I like to take some deep breaths to bring my focus in onto moves and just go.
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@petzl_official @outside.co.uk (katakis I’m still loving!)
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Thanks @jethro_kiernan as always capturing me just before getting the bomb shelter?! of rps on day of the triffids e8 in the ogwen. I was then roasting hot and had to carefully take my top off. I did think it would be funny if I fell off taking my top off and took a grounder. Am I sick 🤒 by @rachel.pearce94

This route was very special for me. A full circle on one of my favourite crags in north wales, where I really started my climbing journey back in 2018 when I decided to lead a route before George, and I started to take ownership for what I wanted to do. The corner was one of my first e1s, followed by left wall the following year and then the rest of the classics after that. Lord of the flies was an iconic route that spent a lot of time in my mind before leading it last summer. I obsessed about it for weeks, wondering whether it would feel like a dream pulling over the top. I practiced trying to place slings on spikes whilst at work in the canyon, my customers must have though I lost it. I probably have! But after all the rumours of the sling on the spike it didn’t work, and only managed to get a measly sky hook before the first porthole. But then after this is flowed, as beautiful as I imagined it to be. After this nightmayer naturally came into my radar. I remember hearing about it a few years ago, during that busy summer when it was getting some attention. But I never contemplated or even thought that it would ever be me up on that wall back then. Part of me was nervous to go and try it for the first time. I was scared it wouldn’t be what I had hoped, or in reality I feared it would be too hard. That first day it was very windy and rather cold, when it came time for me to go up I felt chilly and tense. I was going to climb up in my coat but decided against it, and instead threw a jumper on. But I didn’t tuck it under my harness, and there was a funny moment high up on the wall where my jumper was flying up around my head, and my chalk bag horizontal. I had the biggest grin on my face. When I started climbing I just climbed up, I switched my brain off and let my body just use its instincts. The line just made total sense. You just step on, and go up. And keep going and going. I managed to climb all the way to just before the crux on the traverse. I slipped off here but pulled back on and then had a few attempts working out how to do the crux, but I managed to find a weak person way of doing it. Discovering a new hold I think. *CONTINUED by @rachel.pearce94

So that’s our Turkey trip over all a bit too quick. We had a great 2 days and then I basically immediately got sick. Spent nearly 2 weeks with nausea, cramps, sickness and all that shabang… Despite this I still managed to enjoy our time and could still get out climbing a lot, in spite of the discomfort and fatigue. The walk in was the hardest part, and as long as I didn’t have much food in me I was safe! Luckily the last few days I’ve really started to feel a lot better and hopefully I’m out of the woods. Çitdibi is an amazing crag full of massive lines and big extensions. We had it to ourselves most of the time and it was amusing when we turned up one day and there were four other cars to our horror. We then laughed and thought we better get used to this Kalymnos! We settled into a nice little routine and way of life, with a house on the edge of a village amongst orchards and small farms. We picked pomegranates, oranges and walnuts off the trees everyday, and had 2 little kitties to feed. Morning walks in the pine forest and chilly dips in the river. This video is of a 7c+ we did on the last day which unfortunately got a bit wet following some rain. Luckily I managed to find a way of toweling it off and stuffing the towel into a tufa to try and plug the spring despite George saying there was no chance. I’ve usually got the attitude that things are worth a shot, and for once I was right this time 😬 Somehow it went down on the first red point and we called it a day and headed for a Thai massage before an overnight bus to the ferry port for Greece. Now we’re in kalymnos with Glenda, Dave, @_jade_1801 and @bodhikp, and looking forward to some Greek island life.
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@petzl_official @lasportivauk @mountainequipment @outside.co.uk by @rachel.pearce94

And We’re Off 🇹🇷
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By late September I’d decided that i was basically pretty burnt out and I’d done “enough” work for the season! We closed the calendar for half term and we planned a climbing trip to Turkey instead. Every year I feel like I’ve worked to the absolute limit and every year a find a way to somehow squeeze a bit more out of it.
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We hadn’t really committed to anything and Turkey was saying 50mm of rain due but on Sunday night we booked our flight for the Tuesday and got packing and organising.
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The journey was steady, the first day rained but we’d planned on doing some shopping and getting some supplies from decathlon etc. We’d booked somewhere on AirB&B for two nights with the hope of getting a better deal direct with the owners for cash (major negotiation!)
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Day 1 we were fortunate enough to have a social start with our friends Lara and Joe and then shortly after, Shaun turned up with a crew who’d been climbing in Dedegol (massive bolted multipitch, the Taghia of Turkey?)
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I had a horrendous time warming up on a 7a and it was a miracle I didn’t fall off. Full boxed by the chains, Rachel had tried to go up the 7c extension (fall right by the chains) but I had to take on the first bolt. I put it down to a bad warmup but the next route in the Korridor sector (a 7a+) had me just as boxed. I was a bit worried! It’s funny that despite knowing it might take a few routes to settle in I was wondering if maybe I was even more unfit than I thought, having done not much climbing recently.
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A nice swim in the river definitely sorted us out and I didn’t check the temp before jumping in; the water must have been coming from wayyyy up in the mountains 😂 it almost put Rachel off completely.
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We returned to Geikbayiri for day 2 and went to Trebenna where there is some shade and amazing caves. I seemed to get on a bit better here, maybe because there were knee bars so I could let go and recover. You can also climb here in the rain, which was good because there was a huge downpour.
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Some nice autumn colours here and plenty of plants and animals to see. We even found a crab down by the river? We’ve also got two cats hanging around the house…
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- George by @rachel.pearce94

The bouldery crux on Acili salgam. This has a pretty long move in it but I managed to find a way using a nasty little crimp for the left hand as an intermediate before getting a drop knee and bumping, and then a heel to release the right hand. I was pretty psyched with myself for working this one out. It was funny today I was thinking how recently I said that climbing my hardest head points on trad has always been a pleasure, and never an effort to go up for a lap. But sometimes when sport climbing it can seem like effort and hard work, today in sweaty heat and zero wind in the canyon I was huffing and puffing my way up. With a lot of moaning, sighs, and skin taken away from me. And now I’ve got to do it all again because I want to look at another branch out of it ! The routes in the canyon are phenomenal though; massive 40+ m voyages into a sea of tufas. We’ve also had the whole crag to ourselves for 2 days in a row.
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@petzl_official @lasportivauk @mountainequipment @outside.co.uk

#climbingturkey by @rachel.pearce94

First climbed by Johnny Dawes in 1986, the U.K.’s first E9 has held its reputation as a fearsome benchmark for the past four decades. With sparse protection and continuously thin, off-vertical climbing along its 150-foot length, the Indian Face at Clogwyn Du'r Arddu has only seen a handful of ascents. This past August, Rachel Pearce @rachel.pearce94 became the tenth climber, and first female, to find the top.

In the latest episode of the Cutting Edge, host Jim Aikman sits down with Pearce to understand her climbing history and love affair with the route—and why she thinks no women had led this "no-falls climb" until now. Listen to the story at the link in our bio.

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📷 1: Pearce climbs Poetry Pink on the Rainbow Slab, a wall among the slate quarries of Llanberis, the North Wales village where the approach to the Indian Face begins. Image by Jethro Kiernan @jethro_kiernan

📷 2: Pearce climbs the Indian Face on Clogwyn Du’r Arddu. Image by George Sanderson.

This episode of the Cutting Edge is sponsored by @featheredfriends1972, makers of exceptionally lightweight, warm, and packable down gear for more than 50 years. by @rachel.pearce94

Smiles on my face after a lovely day bouldering on the beach at benllech. It always amazes me and makes me happy when I think how such contrasting climbing experiences, styles, motives for the day etc can all leave you beaming. From being pumped and scared trying to onsight something, or calm and focused head pointing, vs a chilled day bouldering with a friend. At the crag we met phill targett who had developed much of these problems, and loads more elsewhere. It was really nice and useful for him to turn up. And he said something that I thought was such a good point. Something along the lines of coming here and doing link ups is pointless but he enjoys it and being outside, and he also feels that putting up problems is adding to the collective consciousness in that if someone enjoys his problem then they go home and they’ve had a nice day (like me and Glenda today), and then they’re in a better mood and they’re then kinder to their partners and then that spirals. I thought that is so true. I love how all these little experiences in climbing and meetings with people are also like life lessons and I feel I get to know the north wales community more and more. I also realise that when I’m thinking back about my day climbing, that I’m actually not thinking about any of the actual climbs I did or success I had, but instead my encounters with others and enjoying basking in the sun on the beach in between gos. by @rachel.pearce94

More summer catching up…

1. Glenda on nicks new route at cwm glas Bach e6 - there was some controversy over this one over some thread chopping ! You’ll have to ask bullock ;) it’s always a good day when Glenda does a mini project. Smiling Glenda lowering off. It’s a really good route and worth checking out, definitely feels different in style to the others and some cool lay backing at the top.

2. Me on over the beach to the right. I was disappointed not to go for the flash of this, in two minds. But ultimately it was the start of July and I didn’t want to risk breaking my legs.

3-5. Authentic desire was an absolute belter! I did feel my desire wasn’t as authentic as it could have been flashing it after George chalked and ticked gear. But again time was short and this was after work so you’ve just go to do what suits you at the time. Brilliant line, climbing and position. Some slightly boomy rock !

6-7. Some much needed walking in between work and climbing to keep me sane !

8-10. The day of the aborted mission on Indian face. I will write about this properly at some point !!

11. 🍄 and face mask therapy after a busy summer !

@petzl_official @lasportivauk @mountainequipment @outside.co.uk by @rachel.pearce94

I love the contrast in climbing and styles in north wales. Yesterday we were on pumpy juggy trad and today on thin technical slate sport. This is a fantastic 7b called Con quista dors in dalis hole - highly reccomended! Me doing some standard slow climbing through the crux on the flash. Although George’s beta didn’t prove that helpful!
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@petzl_official @lasportivauk @mountainequipment by @rachel.pearce94

by @rachel.pearce94

by @rachel.pearce94