Every day after school, 15-year-old Ashima Shiraishi heads to Brooklyn聽Boulders indoor climbing gym to train. She usually climbs for three to聽five hours, and then heads home to her parents鈥 rent-controlled聽apartment in downtown Manhattan to do homework, before hitting the聽sack at聽1 a.m.聽The only hiccup in her otherwise consistent routine?聽Lately, the route setters at the gym can鈥檛 seem to set a problem that聽will actually stump the teen prodigy.
The reason for this is simple: When it comes to climbing on plastic,聽Ashima rarely falls.
Perhaps this helps to explain, though in no way justifies, her聽father鈥檚 recent unfortunate mistake. As his daughter鈥檚 regular belayer聽and coach, Hisatoshi 鈥淧oppo鈥 Shiraishi arrived at the Stone Summit聽climbing gym in Kennesaw, Georgia, a week in advance of the 2016 USA聽Youth Nationals competition. While completing a routine training聽climb, Ashima uncharacteristically fell. Her father, surprised,聽squeezed his belay device in such a way that it prevented it from聽working correctly. He watched his worst nightmare unfold before his聽eyes: His daughter dropped from 45 feet straight to the ground.
Ashima was taken to the hospital as a precaution, but doctors released聽her later that night. She was sore, shaken鈥攂ut ultimately,聽miraculously 鈥 OK.
鈥淢y ground fall made me less confident in my climbing and scared to do聽dynamic moves,鈥 she said.
The feeling didn鈥檛 last long. A week later, Ashima managed to overcome聽those mental barriers, shake off the jitters, and stand atop the聽podium with a first-place finish for her age category. 鈥淚 was able to聽tackle my fears of committing to dynamic moves from simply focusing on聽climbing and to forget about my fall,鈥 she said. It鈥檚 a familiar spot聽for the Japanese-American prodigy. Six months earlier, in January, she聽handily won the USA Youth Bouldering Nationals championships for her聽age. Adding the win in Georgia gave her the rare distinction of being聽both a bouldering and sport-climbing champion.
She鈥檚 been just as impressive climbing outside. During a spring break聽trip in March to Japan, she climbed 鈥淗orizon,鈥 a V15 boulder problem.聽This made her the first woman ever to achieve that level of difficulty聽in bouldering, a discipline that generally favors power, reach, and聽height. Ashima is barely 5 feet tall, and weighs less than 100 pounds.
In August, Ashima traded in the rope and harness for another聽bouldering trip where she headed to聽the聽Grampians, Australia. After three days of climbing, she managed to tick her聽second V15 with 鈥淪leepy Rave,鈥 which climbs directly out the underside聽of a horizontal roof. 鈥淧ersonally I thought that 鈥楬orizon鈥 was harder聽than 鈥楽leep Rave,鈥櫬犫 Ashima said.
While in Australia, news broke that climbing would officially become聽an Olympic sport in the 2020 Games in Tokyo, the country from which聽Ashima鈥檚 parents emigrated in the 1970s to pursue careers in dance and聽fashion in New York City. 鈥淪ince I even began rock climbing, my dream聽has been to one day become an Olympian,鈥 she said. 鈥淣ow that climbing聽has been accepted, my dream may come true.鈥
Obviously, she鈥檚 excited to compete and won鈥檛 stop at anything that聽holds her back from that gold medal. One problem may be that speed聽climbing, which Ashima has never competed in, is part of the new聽Olympic format, which will give one medal for combined scores in聽speed, bouldering, and lead/sport. While many top climbers have聽grumbled about giving one medal for three disparate disciplines,聽Ashima has embraced the challenge. 鈥淚 plan on training to speed climb聽and compete in the World Cups next year,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 believe that聽competing and climbing outdoors will prepare me for the big event.鈥