Talk:Deep-water soloing

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Deep-water soloing/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Aszx5000 (talk · contribs) 00:50, 7 September 2025 (UTC)

Reviewer: Verylongandmemorable (talk · contribs) 04:03, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

Hi @Aszx5000:, thank you for your work on this article! I will review and post comments below.

Good Article review progress box

Criteria: 1a. prose () 1b. MoS () 2a. ref layout () 2b. cites WP:RS () 2c. no WP:OR () 2d. no WP:CV () 3a. broadness () 3b. focus () 4. neutral () 5. stable () 6a. free or tagged images () 6b. pics relevant () Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked are unassessed

Well-written?

I will add more prose comments for the rest of the article over the next day. For small unambiguous copy-editing issues, I will just fix them directly in the article.

Great and many thanks User:Verylongandmemorable, I have started making the changes below. Aszx5000 (talk) 12:20, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

Lead

• "Deep-water soloing was largely started in Mallorca in 1978" - "largely started" is vague, particularly as the history section only mentions Mallorca
  •  Done. Changed to Deep-water soloing traces its roots to the discovery in 1978 of Cova Del Dimoniin Mallorca by Miquel Riera, ..

Description

• "DWS routes can vary from safe "bouldering-type" overhanging routes" - quotes are unnecessary here unless it is a direct quote
  •  Done. Removed quotes.
• "it is particularly suited to certain areas that have at least slightly overhanging rock faces" - "at least slightly" is awkward and seems unnecessary
  •  Done. Removed words in quotes.
• "have become particularly attractive for DWS" - somewhat promotional tone, could just say "popular" or "established DWS locations"
  •  Done. Replaced with established DWS locations.

Notable ascents

• First ascent was by Chris Sharma, who left it ungraded and named it after his daughter; there was speculation it was harder than Es Pontàs and at 9b (5.15b) - "there was speculation" is vague, there should be a more clear attribution of who speculated.
  •  Done. Replaced with tigher wording of ... , his descriptions led to media speculation that it was 9b (5.15b).; an replaced reference with two better refs that talk about the speculation of it being at 9b. Aszx5000 (talk) 19:38, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

Verifiable with no original research?

Plagiarism concerns in the History section, with whole phrases being lifted from this UK Climbing article :

• "In 2001, British climber Tim Emmett received an email from Miquel showing"
  •  Done. Changed to In 2001, Miquel contacted British climber Tim Emmett highlighting..
• "which resulted in a vast number of new lines being established, chiefly at Cala Barques"
  •  Done. Changed to ..., which led to a significant increase in new routes being created,...
• Many smaller turns of phrase as well, like "The 1990s saw an explosion" presented in the same order as the original source
  •  Done. Changed to The 1990s saw a large increase in interest in Britain...

• • Have re-phrased any other words. The remaining items on the UK Climbing article are people's names, route names and book names, which I don't think I can do must more on? Aszx5000 (talk)

Earwig also flags this article for a large chunk of the lead, but the article's 2024 publication date is after this wording was already used in the lead (e.g. see this 2023 revision ), so I suspect the article copied Wikipedia.

• • I have had this problem with climbing articles that I overhaul where blogs copy sections of content (and it gets flagged at WP:DYK). I guess it is a good sign :)

Ref spot-check

Just a note: it would be nice if you could add archive links to citations, as some articles were paywalled, and it guards against link rot.

• •  Done.

Ref numbers are for this revision:

1. ✅ Confirms subject, film name, climbing in Croatia

3. ✅ Several claims: supports general risks of DWS, armchair landing technique, risks of rough seas, climbers have drowned

5. ✅ Confirms Croatia, Portugal, Sardinia, Malta as DWS locations

6. ✅ Confirms DWS in France

8. ✅ DWS routes in Thailand

15. ✅ Mentions DWS film featuring Klem Loskot

19. Cannot access book, taking on good faith

24. Paywalled, even checking web archive

26. ✅ Confirms ascent by Sharma, easier than previous DWS milestones, 30m height

28. ✅ Largely confirms the same as above source

Note: I checked ref 27 as well and there is no mention of locals calling the route "The King". This should be removed.

• •  Done. I couldn't find an exact reference to the fact that locals named it in his honour, however, I have added a reference to it's name being The King on the main climing database, but dropped that it was done for him. Is that ok? Aszx5000 (talk) 12:56, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

Broad in its coverage?

Good breadth, although I would have expected to see some discussion of the community or popularity of DWS compared to other disciplines? Competition section is also a bit thin, could use more detail on the format (I assume "head-to-head races" means it works like speed climbing?) or significant competitors, winners of the main events, etc.

Let me have a longer look at this and see what more I can add here. Some DWS competitions are not head-to-head (like speed climbing), but more like competition lead climbing, which is getting to the highest point reached. Aszx5000 (talk) 13:00, 6 February 2026 (UTC)

I have been able to expand the Competition section to add other formats and notable events. I have also added some more on the films section re notable DWS film appearances. Hope that works @Verylongandmemorable? thanks. Aszx5000 (talk) 15:03, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

Good use of summary style overall.

Stable?

Yes, no edit wars or activity on talk page

Illustrated?

Many nice images, all CC license, good captions

Final comments

@Aszx5000: thank you for your quick responses, I'm happy with the prose changes and the Competition section looks much more comprehensive. I had just one more note about clarification needed in Notable ascents, and then I will pass the article. Congratulations! [[User:Verylongandmemorable]] (talk) 19:03, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for that @Verylongandmemorable. I have hopefully addressed that issue with tighter wording and I replaced the ref with two better refs that directly mention the point about the speculation. Hope that works and thanks so much for your input and advice on this, which has been very helpful. Aszx5000 (talk) 19:40, 7 February 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. You can locate your hook here. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SnowyRiver28 (talk) 07:35, 10 March 2026 (UTC)

(

• Comment or view
• Article history

)

Slovenian climber Natalija Gros deep-water soloing at Kamenjak, Croatia

• ... that the sport of deep-water soloing (pictured) originated in Mallorca in 1978?

• Source: UK Climbing Magazine, Climbing Magazine

• • Reviewed: Template:Did you know nominations/Charlotte Brontë

Improved to Good Article status by Aszx5000 (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 7 past nominations.

Aszx5000 (talk) 18:42, 8 February 2026 (UTC).

• Aszx5000, please supply a QPQ review or this nomination will be closed. Thanks. Dclemens1971 (talk) 12:59, 13 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Oops, my bad, will fix this v. shortly. thanks, Aszx5000 (talk) 23:41, 13 February 2026 (UTC)
• General eligibility:
• New enough:
• Long enough:
• Other problems:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook eligibility:

• Cited:
• Interesting:

Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Freely licensed: Used in article: Clear at 100px:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: Relatively high copyvio score is due to properly attributed quoted material, so there is no issue. This hook could maybe work, but I do not find it quite as intriguing as I would like. @Aszx5000: Do you have any other suggestions? Chorchapu (talk | edits) 17:21, 14 February 2026 (UTC)

• • ALT1 ... for a time, the deep-water soloing route, Es Pontàs, was one of the hardest rock-climbs in the word?. The verification is Gripped Magazine, and we could use the photo of the sea arch of Es Pontas, which is pretty dramatic. However, this is more about the Es Pontàs (climb) article (I never DYK'ed it) than DWS? Aszx5000 (talk) 12:12, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

  @Aszx5000: That one's not really to my liking either; I also feel it focuses more on Es Pontas than DWS. Chorchapu (talk | edits) 01:39, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

• @Chorchapu:, how about ALT2: ... that while safer than free solo climbing, several climbers have drowned while deep-water soloing?. I have updated the article for this but the verfication is here? Does that work? thanks. Aszx5000 (talk) 11:50, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

• @Aszx5000: That looks good to me. Chorchapu (talk | edits) 15:59, 17 February 2026 (UTC)