Alex Johnson Sends The Swarm V13/14 in Bishop
The five-time U.S.A. national champion has been projecting the problem on and off for years
Top climber Alex Johnson has climbed The Swarm V13/14 in the Buttermilk’s in Bishop, California. The send comes after multiple years of projecting the difficult and famous problem.
Many top climbers have sent the line, including Ashima Shiriashi, Alex Puccio, Daniel Woods, Dave Graham, Nalle Hukkataival, Fred Nicole and Paul Robinson. Puccio and Robinson are two of a handful of climbers who call it a solid V13, while many others assign it a slash grade of V13/14.
Johnson has ticked dozens of hard boulders over the past 15 years, including Clear Blue Skies V12, Book of Nightmares V12, Lethal Design V12 and Hungry Hungry Hippos V12/13. Johnson has won two world cup gold medals and been the U.S.A. national champion five times.
When we touched base with Johnson in fall 2020 about LGBTQI+ representation in climbing, she told us, “As a country and as an industry and as a community, we are nowhere near as progressive as we think we are and that’s frustrating.” Read the full story here.
Johnson on Hungry Hungry Hippos V12/13
Johnson and The Swarm in 2018
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