Ashima Shiraishi is the newest member of the North Face’s global athlete team. Photo courtesy of Big Up Productions
Early this month, North Face announced the addition of two new rock climbers to the outdoor clothing brand’s global athlete team. One of them is Paige Claassen, the 19-year-old Colorado climber who’s made first ascents of difficult routes in Colorado and Deep Creek, Washington.
The other? Well, she’s still in middle school.
Meet 13-year-old Ashima Shiraishi, the rock climbing prodigy who started climbing in New York City’s Central Park at age six and began competing just a year later, winning Youth Nationals her first time entering the contest and then consecutively for the next five years.
Ashima on The Swarm in Bishop, California, being spotted by her father; photo courtesy of Shiraishi
Maybe not that impressive if you’ve seen some of the up-and-comers killing the same routes you’ve been working on for months at the rock gym—but Shiraishi is a quickly rising star in the younger ranks of what’s still a fairly young sport.
She’s one of only four females to have ever completed a V14 bouldering route, and just last month, she sent The Swarm in Bishop, California, earning the title of the first female ascent of this infamous boulder (for comparison, this route is a challenge for muscled men like Daniel Woods and Dave Graham).
She’s also the youngest person ever to sport climb a 5.14c and the youngest to top out on a V13 bouldering route. It’s an incredible look at the next generation of climbing about to make us look, well, kind of lame.
Mind blown yet? No? Then watch this:
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