disobey_gravity | Holy shit, EFFORT

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ashima,
effort!

Holy shit, EFFORT

Ashima Shiraishi sends Crown of Aragorn (V13).

This puts her among 3 or 4 women in the world who've climbed a V13 (there's some debate about the exact number, owing to argument about whether traverses count and exactly what grade particular problems are, not to mention the mysterious way in which problems or routes often suddenly get downgraded after a woman does them).

Ashima Shiraishi is 10 years old.

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Wow! I'd love to see a video of that.

She's been getting enough climbing media attention that I'd bet it was filmed.

Yeah, has to be. If you happen to come across a vid of this, could you link it here?

eta: uh, I was reading the comments at climbingnarc... some of the comments by the grown up guys trying to explain away the success of a ten-year-old girl are pathetic. Strong guy, being outperformed by a little girl. Can't have that, of course. (But she's "head and shoulders above all other climbers her age", that one guy graciously admits.)

Edited 2012-03-25 10:49 (UTC)

Will do!

It's something that seems to be becoming known as the "small fingers" argument. Seriously, this got raised to explain Lynn Hill freeing the Nose on El Cap, way back when: obviously it's because she's got such small fingers, it's easier for her! Beth Rodden's first ascent of Meltdown, a candidate for the hardest crack climb ever? Small fingers.

No video footage yet, but there's a write-up (with photos) of her trip from Jason Kehl, who declares her a "ten year old Warrior Ninja Rock Assassin Princess":

http://jasonkehl.dpmblogs.com/2012/04/17/ashima-returns-to-hueco/