Ashima, impressions?

General opinions as to this little one's prowess via our passion, feeling a blow below the belt? Encouraging? Scared to shits of the next generation? Opinions ;Fire away!

Definitely not feeling a low blow. I get crushed by teenage girls at the climbing gym all the time.

I think the most amazing part is that she is so young yet has the mental ability and the physical coordination to climb hard. Her focus and determination are not normal for a kid her age. When i was 11 I was still having a hard time making it through an hour long soccer game without losing focus and getting in a fight.

She appears to be growing slowly, which is good for her climbing. If ahe ever has a big growth spurt it will be hard for her to continue at this level. She'd likely fall back a few grades or more and have to learn how to climb again. I remember growing more than six inches one year and my feet got like three sizes bigger. I was so clumsy - I could barely run.

I think we've all learned a thing or two from The young girls of the 90's who dominated until they got burnt out. It seems like Ashima has good people around her who support her and know when to push, but also when to just have fun.

Then again, what do I know. I'm just some dude who's seen videos of her and her friends climbing.

she likely climbs harder than anyone here ever will ... and thats a good thing ;)

My impression is that she is a great kid..I've seen her at numerous comps in ISO and out on the floor and she is positive, fun and focused. Her parents seem great...supportive and encouraging without pushing her. Her finger strength is amazing and she reads climbs quickly and accurately. My daughter is one year older, went through a growth spurt last year and was frustrated as she slid back a grade two now this year is back up beyond where she was last year.

My son grew 6 inches last year and his finger strength did not catch up with the growth until this fall.

As long as Ashima continues to work with fun positive climbers she will continue to improve...with that finger strength she'll be scary once she grows a few inches!

I just like watching people send v-hard without dropping the F bomb every half-move. Quite inspiring to see that the "innocence of children" seems a peaceful, lightheartedness in Ashima. Plus she has mad passion and drive for an 11 year old!

Ashima = ちょ　すごい

I really like that she has erased ego from climbing.

You think you're hard? You think you're special? You can onsight my project?

An 11 year old girl climbs harder than you.

But of course she can't hold a flame to what I do.
As long as she stays out of trad climbing...

It's been done before, just not quite at her level. Cicada Jenerik climbed V10 at age 10 but grew up a bit and has kinda plateaued. Tori Allen climbed really hard and burned out. Daniel woods was climbing .14s at age 14 and has only gotten better.

i think growth spurts hurt the girls more since they get used to such a light weight and then fill out a bit. The girls who don't as much, excel.. ie Alex Johnson, Sasha, Alex puccio. still real skinny but strong. guys fill out too but it is more muscle growth than anything.

remember.. your trad project is their warm up :)

At least when ashima cries due to not being able to send it's because she is still very young.

When Adam Ondra does it is quite pathetic for an 18 year old. Come on man! I get that you are one of the worlds strongest climbers and do not often fail when clmbing at that you are very passionate but you are 18 years old. Grown men don't do that kinda stuff

Jake D. wrote:It's been done before, just not quite at her level. Cicada Jenerik climbed V10 at age 10 but grew up a bit and has kinda plateaued. Tori Allen climbed really hard and burned out. Daniel woods was climbing .14s at age 14 and has only gotten better. i think growth spurts hurt the girls more since they get used to such a light weight and then fill out a bit. The girls who don't as much, excel.. ie Alex Johnson, Sasha, Alex puccio. still real skinny but strong. guys fill out too but it is more muscle growth than anything. remember.. your trad project is their warm up :)

Sasha has consistently improved her climbing abilities while LOSING weight. Not to mention many other female climbers like Daila, the Rabatous (spelling?) and many others. I agree with you that female BOULDERERS like the Alex's you mentioned may take longer to develop but in sport climbing it is a completely different story.

And as far as more muscle growth......Adam Ondra....shall I say more?

mozeman wrote: Sasha has consistently improved her climbing abilities while LOSING weight. Not to mention many other female climbers like Daila, the Rabatous (spelling?) and many others. I agree with you that female BOULDERERS like the Alex's you mentioned may take longer to develop but in sport climbing it is a completely different story. And as far as more muscle growth......Adam Ondra....shall I say more?

I was saying that Sasha and Alex(s) are lighter but still strong. they didn't get hit with the weight gain of puberty as hard as others.. it depends on your genes i suppose. Girls that were at the top when they were younger tapered off some.

not sure where i said anything between bouldering and sport climbing

there are exceptions. Dave graham and Adam Ondra definitely climb as hard but differently than Daniel woods and Sharma.

Let's make sure we are talking about the right Alex here. There's nothing thin or light about Alex Puccio, in fact, she puts most dudes in shame:

She has a gymnast build. she's only 5'2 so she is till tiny even though she is muscular.

i duno

Ryan Williams wrote:Definitely not feeling a low blow. I get crushed by teenage girls at the climbing gym all the time.

Hahahahaahahahaha! Yeah, me too. Ya just gotta accept it I guess.

But seriously, I just watched the New York Times video and that girl is awesome. She looks like she's having a blast. Good for her.

Jake D. wrote:She has a gymnast build. she's only 5'2 so she is till tiny even though she is muscular. i duno

Has anyone here actually stood next to Alex Puccio? She is a beast. And I used to hang with the gymnasts in university. She puts them (and me) to shame. Her forearms are the size of my biceps - literally. And her deltoids are massive. And she seemed a lot taller than 5'2".

She campused the problem I'd been working on for days. I believe it was the first route she touched that day.

Jake D. wrote: I was saying that Sasha and Alex(s) are lighter but still strong. they didn't get hit with the weight gain of puberty as hard as others.. it depends on your genes i suppose. Girls that were at the top when they were younger tapered off some. not sure where i said anything between bouldering and sport climbing there are exceptions. Dave graham and Adam Ondra definitely climb as hard but differently than Daniel woods and Sharma.

I just brought up the sport vs. bouldering because i feel as if it effects boulderers more so than sport climbing when talking about girl climbers.

female climbers that can climb, lets say 5.14, are much more of an occurrence than women who can climb, lets say V13 or V14.

but yes, I think that dave graham, ondra, patxi show that muscle has nothing to do with climbing strong. it seems for every sharma, dwoods, and ramon julian there is a a lanky ass skinny crusher

mozeman wrote:At least when ashima cries due to not being able to send it's because she is still very young. When Adam Ondra does it is quite pathetic for an 18 year old. Come on man! I get that you are one of the worlds strongest climbers and do not often fail when clmbing at that you are very passionate but you are 18 years old. Grown men don't do that kinda stuff

Adam Ondra does not care about your concept of manhood.

I see her in the gym fairly often and have seen her on the rocks a couple of times. What's most impressive to me is her movement/technical skill, which is very advanced and sophisticated for her age. All the little shits at the gym can hang on minuscule holds, and that's nothing new or particularly impressive, considering their tiny fingers and light little bodies.

All the debate arises when people try to evaluate the quality or importance of her ascents. That's a harder issue to address. I think the V grade system breaks down for climbers with physical characteristics way out on either end of the bell curve. The kids will generally excel on problems with tiny but closely spaced holds, and struggle on problems with mandatory long reaches, wide pinches or slopers.

In any case, she's a damn good young climber and seems to be enjoying herself. She's traveling to wonderful places and having good clean fun climbing rocks. Whether she'll burn out and quit climbing or become the next Adam Ondra is anyone's guess.

Lanky wrote: Adam Ondra does not care about your concept of manhood.

Best of this thread.

She seems like she would be a lot nicer to spot than some of my bouldering buddies. She wouldn't flatten you.

Yeah, but she would probably not be a great belayer for most of you...