Ashima Shiraishi Sends V13 and More in Tennessee
Ashima Shiraishi, the top American 17 year old all-round climber, has sent two V12s and a V13 in Tennessee.
Shiraishi sent Fire in the Mountain V12, Testify and Tilted World V13 at Lilly Boulders after not so many attempts.
“Had a taste of Southern rock this weekend,” said Shiraishi on social media. “Very stoked to put down some hard classics within the few days we made it outdoors.”
Shiraishi has sent many problems harder than V13, with ticks of Horizon V15 in Japan and Sleepy Rave in Australia.
In 2017, she was the female champ at the USA Climbing Lead Nationals held in Denver, Colorado, and placed second at the USA Climbing Bouldering Nationals to 10-time champion Alex Puccio.
At age 13 she became the second woman and youngest person to climb a sport route with a difficulty grade of 5.14d/5.15a.
In an interview with refinery29.com, Shiraishi was asked: “I know I’ve experienced sexism at the gym, like when a guy approaches you and sprays beta. Have you had to deal with people treating you differently because you’re a woman in this sport?”
To which she responded, “I haven’t really experienced too much sexism, because whenever I climb, I climb with my friends who I really trust and I know that I’ll have a good training session with. [But] I’ve definitely seen it a lot, where men would, you know, mansplain. [It seems like] they feel it’s their responsibility to show women how things are done, even though that woman knows exactly what to do, and she really doesn’t need that advice.
“Also, I’ve been climbing for 10 years now, and with each accomplishment I make, people say, like, ‘Oh, that’s amazing — for a girl.’ If I was a guy, it would still be really cool, but [people think], ‘She’s a girl, so that’s what makes it better,’ or something. I wish people wouldn’t think of it that way, that [what I can do] is only cool because I’m a female climber … Even if I was a male climber doing that same thing, I would still be making history with that accomplishment. I wish that they wouldn’t categorize me like that. I’ve had to stick up for that for a long time, and it still gets to me.”
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