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Yuji Hirayama Sends Flatanger 5.14c Called Odin’s Eye

Yuji Hirayama is 47 years old and has sent on of Flatanger’s classic 5.14c climbs in Norway. For those young climbers out there, at 17 Hirayama sent two Yosemite cracks: The Phoenix and Cosmic Debris. He then onsighted Sphinx Crack 5.13c in Colorado. Hirayama was ranked first in the World Cup Lead Climbing circuit in 1998 and 2000, which he achieved after moving to France to focus on the sport. Over the years, he focused on freeing big Yosemite routes and sent a number of them and held The Nose speed record three separate times. He tried to onsight the 35-pitch Salathe Wall in 1997 and only fell on three pitches. In 2004, he made the first onsight ever of a 5.14b after sending the Spain route White Zombie.

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