James Pearson repeats What we do in the Shadows (E10 7a) ground-up
- Monday 11th August 2025
Having added Crac yr Meistri (E9 7a) to his CV earlier this month, James Pearson headed to Loch Duntelchaig, Scotland, for a flash-go on What we do in the Shadows (E10 7a); he got close, very close… Settling instead for a ground-up ascent. Read on for the details....
Flashing, or at least attempting to flash, super trad hard routes, is very much in vogue amongst the elite trad specialists at the moment. This is very much something which James has been both passionate about and committed to for some time. Early doors, James had a flash-go on Muy Calliente and then Something's Burning. More recently, and somewhat controversially, James had a flash-go on Lexicon prior to his fourth-go, ground-up ascent. Click here to read the Climber report about James’s approach on that route. Ultimately, Adam Ondra tied in and flashed Lexicon during a whistle-stop, two-day visit earlier this summer; again, click here to read the Climber report on that groundbreaking ascent.
James explains his thinking behind his own flash-go attempts on hard routes.
“Flashing hard trad routes is a tricky thing to do, because a significant part of the route’s difficulty is connected to how dangerous it is. Simply put, it’s hard to relax and climb efficiently when you are worried about breaking your legs, or worse! Even for routes that might be technically “safe”, when the movements become physically difficult, it’s hard to place protection efficiently. Routes like this are almost always practised with a top-rope, and all of the gear placements perfectly rehearsed. Flashing or on-sighting hard trad routes means you are either wasting a lot of time and energy making certain that your placements are as good as they can be, or you are moving quickly and taking excessive risks… which usually ends up with you getting scared, over-gripping, and wasting energy! All this to say - physically hard, well-protected, trad routes, with easy to place gear are really rare!”
Kindly, James has summarised some of his and other climbers’ flash-go attempts from the relatively recent past, covering the E9s and above around the globe. James starts off with some context, saying, “The number of routes graded E9 and above that either have been, or have attempted to be flashed, is pretty short.” This then is James’ quick summary of notable attempts/ascents:
- James Pearson on Muy Calliente in 2011. He fell on the last move. At the time, it was E10 but has been downgraded to E9.
- Something's Burning, E9, again by James in 2014.
- Alex Megos on The Path in 2016. Located at Back of the Lake on Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies, this F8b+/R rated route hasn’t been given an E grade, but it is considered reasonably well-protected, so it is likely to be hard E9 or an easy E10.
- La Fuerza de la Gravedad by Pete Whittaker in 2022. Again, this doesn’t have an E Grade, but well-protected F8b and would be E9.
- Le Voyage E10, Anot, France from Seb Berth in 2023 was the first known E10 flash.
- Lexicon E11 by Adam Ondra in 2025.
James picks up the story of his flash attempt on What we do in the Shadows, saying:
“Caro and I are still in the UK, still enjoying the exceptional weather, and have slowly been moving north. A few days ago, we made it to Inverness, the UK’s northernmost city, with one goal in mind - to attempt to flash What we do in the Shadows an E10 from Robbie Philips. I’d watched the video of Robbie making the first ascent, and Dave MacLeod making the first (and only) repeat, a couple of years ago, and had made a mental note that it could be a good route for a flash attempt, due to the fact that it seemed to be relatively safe, and that the hard climbing is after you have placed all the gear.”
He continues saying: “I actually had another trad route in mind for a flash attempt this trip, but after watching a friend attempt some of the moves, I decided it was better to save it for another (cooler) time. Since we were already quite far north, and the weather looked good in Inverness for the next few days, we changed plans and made the final five-hour drive to the beautiful Loch Duntelchaig. The two videos of Robbie and Dave do an excellent job of showing most of the hard moves, and even share some possible alternate methods. Caroline then filled in the rest of the blanks for me, and I felt like I had everything I needed to give it my best; the only thing left was to try…
… and fall off! Despite having all the information I needed, I messed up a tricky, but ultimately easy sequence coming out of a kneebar in a roof, before the hard climbing had even begun! I didn’t even have chance to try! Saying I was gutted doesn’t do it justice. There are so few routes of this level that are so perfectly suitable for this style of ascent, it really felt like I’d thrown this one away, but that’s how it goes!”
Despite having fallen off, and hence lost the opportunity for a flash, it was still all to play for.
James describes how his second attempt went: “The silver lining was climbing it on my next try, and even if it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for, E10, ground-up, in two attempts is a great consolation prize!”
Summarising his efforts, James said: “The route is awesome, and is exactly what I hoped it would be. After placing the protection and establishing yourself on some pretty good undercuts in the very steep final wall, things suddenly shift in intensity, and you blast out a physical, and technical boulder problem, on small edges, with toe-hooks and a final dyno! Nothing like a standard trad shuffle!”
For now, James’ hunt for an E10 flash continues. Concluding this chapter on What we did in the Shadows, James said, “Great job to Robbie for finding it, and having the perseverance to make the first ascent. It's a gem!”