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With an estimated five-thousand people in attendance, Chris Sharma led a talented group of climbers in a one of a kind Deep Water Soloing competition sponsored by BBK (Banco Bilbao Kutxa). The beautiful city of Bilbao, in northern Spain, was the setting for this spectators delight. The Nervión and Ibaizabal rivers meet to form the Bilbao Estuary where a 50′ high wall, built by Top 30, awaited the competitors.

With more than 4000 spectators lining the river, it entertained more people that any climbing competition in history. Chris Sharma wowed the crowd as usual, sticking the imposing double-dyno at the beginning of the roof and topping out twice. The nearest competitor stuck the double dyno and fell at the lip. Only three of the approximate 15 competitors made it past the dyno. ~Boone Speed

We immediately reached out to  Chris who could barely contain his excitement at the DWS format…

It was such an awesome event , unbelievable actually.  For years I’ve been dreaming about doing a competition like this, so for me and my good friend Miguel Riera (the godfather of Mallorcan Deep water soloing) it was a dream come true.  The first time I went deep water soloing in Mallorca 7 years ago, I knew it was something special.  This style of climbing high over the water, with no rope, changed my perception of what was possible in climbing.  It is without doubt for me the purest form of climbing, as well being very spectacular.

To do a deep water soloing competition was a no brainer from the start.  The high adrenaline and big falls make it a super spectacular spectator sport, more so than any other climbing competition format.

It was just a matter of time for all the stars to align and make an event like this happen.  It was a great honor to participate in the event held last weekend over the river in downtown Bilbao in the Basque country of northeastern Spain.  It couldn’t have been a better turnout.  The wall was 50 ft tall and the route was a dynamic 5.14a that thrilled the thousands of spectators with crazy falls and tons of sports action.  It was great proof that climbing Can be an amazing spectator sport.

Looking back on the years when climbing was in the X Games but just couldn’t translate to the mainstream audience because if its slow subtle nature, this new form of competition will surely blow the minds of any non climber and I believe will be a key element in climbing becoming a more mainstream sport.

~Chris Sharma

In the end, it was Sharma followed by Bruno Macias 2nd with Ignasi Tarrazona and Nacho Sánchez tied for 3rd.

“It was like a rock concert” ~Daila Ojeda

Congratulations to Chris and all all the other competitors including Toni Lamprecht as we look forward to seeing innovative climbing events like this help bring climbing to the masses! Enjoy the videos…

Here are more pictures from the comp via…

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Classic Chris Sharma DWS