Veteran rock climbers are calling her one of the strongest in the world. She flies up, pinching the rock, lunging gracefully for practically nonexistent holds. And she's only 14.
Meet Ashima Shiraishi, the New York teen who's shaking up the climbing world. After becoming the first female and the youngest ever to climb one of the most difficult routes known to rope climbers, her goal for this year sounds nearly impossible.
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Last year, when she was 13 years old, Shiraishi achieved that first ever climb on a 5.15 route. For most of us, the rating almost doesn't matter after a certain difficulty level, but to give you an idea: the world's toughest roped climbs are currently rated 5.15c. They taunt climbers with crimpy moves, dynos, underclings, and extreme awkwardness.
The route, called "Open Your Mind Direct" in Spain, had been suggested to Shiraishi by American Chris Sharma, one of the best in the world. Originally a 5.14d route, the path up became more difficult after a hold broke off near the top, turning it into a 5.15a, Rock and Ice reported. My arms burn just looking at the overhang.
But like a veteran climber, Shiraishi manged to "send" it on her fourth day.
Shiraishi first learned to climb on rocks in Central Park as a child. At age 9, she went on a bouldering trip to Texas. Falling prompted some tears, but she didn't give up and held her own with the adults. Just watch:
For the past six years she's been a climbing phenom when she isn't struggling with homework. Her love for the sport have taken her around the world, including South Africa, where she set her sights on a bouldering problem called "Golden Shadow," rated V14. Only a handful of men and one woman had ever climbed it.
She worked on it for days until her hands bled. Even her supportive dad suggested moving on. She tried again, and succeeded.
"Most sports, the men lead the way," Shiraishi told Gear Patrol. "But with climbing, who knows, maybe women will be leading."
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Her next goal -- and the one that has everyone talking -- is to complete a V15, becoming the first female ever to send one. Oh yeah, and bouldering routes only go to up V16 on the scale.
If you want to see what amazing moves Ashima Shiraishi pulls off next, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. But good luck following her lead on a climb.
Photo: Kevin Jorgeson climbing the Dawn Wall in 2010.
As Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson near the summit of Yosemite's Dawn Wall, we asked renowned climbers Lynn Hill and Jimmy Chin (who took this photo) for their insights into the hardest big wall free climbs. Hill made the first free ascent of the nearby face known as The Nose in 1993, and then climbed it in just a day in 1994. Chin, who has made first ascents on big walls in Pakistan and India, photographed climbing in Yosemite in a 2012 National Geographic spread. Just as the current Dawn Wall project had been considered too difficult to ever be free-climbed, the future of the sport lies in what today seems unfathomable.
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"The future of free climbing is in the big mountain regions of the world," such as the Karakoram range, Chin said. The challenge is so unimaginable, he said, "because you're adding altitude and cold and severe weather." And unlike Yosemite, where a rescue (or a latte) is within range, these areas are incredibly remote. "There would be no chance of a rescue," Hill said. "You have a hard time just breathing and getting supplies there." The east face of the Great Trango Tower, which reaches about 20,000 feet, tops the list because of its near-vertical drop -- the word's biggest. Even with ladder-like devices to move through the harder sections, people have died trying to climb and descend it.
"It's kind of like putting El Cap on top of Denali," said Chin, who was part of the team that completed the first ascent of a route called Shark's Fin in 2011. "I like to fantasize, looking at the route, and wonder if guys like Tommy would ever be able to free climb it," he said. "Because that would be amazing." Chin, along with Conrad Anker and Renan Ozturk, summited using alpine rock and ice equipment, and free-climbing the easier sections. Free-climbing the entire route would be a different realm -- and possibly not in this generation of climbers. If Caldwell doesn't do it, maybe his kids will, Chin said.
Photo: Climber Nina Caprez on Silbergeier in 2012. She was the first woman to ascend the pitch.
This route is "pretty scary," Hill says, because after climbing a pitch rated 5.14 (most difficult), you have to climb another 40 feet without any protection. Calum Muskett, who ascended last summer, called that section "terrifying." And there are multiple 5.14 pitches. Although she hasn't climbed it herself, Hill says the hard parts are higher on the route. Imagine kicking into a higher gear after a long distance of climbing: "Perhaps it's like doing a 5-minute
at mile 20 of a marathon," she said.
Often called the world's most beautiful peak, the 10,262-foot mountain also carries much climbing controversy (surrounding whether people actually summited, gear left on the mountain, overbearing film crews). The technical challenge? The summit is usually topped with rime ice, formed from freezing fog and whipping winds.
Photo: Kevin Jorgeson climbing the Dawn Wall in 2015.
A decade or so ago, the Dawn Wall wasn't on the radar of even the best climbers. The holds are so small that the walls appear to be blank, and must be climbed in chilly temperatures so that perspiration doesn't interfere with holding on to the razer-thin rock. "Most people would be intimidated just standing at the base," Hill said. "There are really only a few people who push things." Namely, Caldwell, who is a connoisseur of challenging climbing, Chin said: "So if anyone is going to pick the hardest possible thing on El Cap, it's Tommy." Of course, each generation has made such vast improvements in the sport that perhaps, Chin said, "three generations from now, maybe climbers will be doing laps on that route. Who knows?"