James Pearson

James Pearson (born 1985) is an English rock climber known for some of the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world, which he has redpointed. He began climbing at sixteen and in 2005 made the third ascent of Equilibrium in South Yorkshire, then among the hardest traditional routes in Britain. In 2008 he made the first free ascent of The Walk of Life in Devon, which he proposed at E12, a grade that provoked a long controversy after Dave MacLeod repeated it and downgraded it. Pearson later lived in France, where he met his wife, the French climber Caroline Ciavaldini, and made the fourth ascent of MacLeod's Rhapsody in 2014. In 2020 he made the first repeat of Tribe in Italy and in 2023 made the first free ascent of Bon Voyage in Annot, France, which came to be accepted as the first consensus E12 9a traditional route. He is the author, with Ciavaldini, of the book Climbing Beyond.