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Reported via @cdnclimbingnews. Mishka Ishi at 13 years old has today become the youngest person to climb a V15 / 8C boulder problem. The route was “Byaku-dou” at Horai, Japan and was opened by Dai Koyamada in 2003. This is a truly astounding feat, given that only three women have ever climbed V15. Ishi is a year younger than the previous youngest - Ashima Shiraishi - who in 2016 climbed "Horizon" in Mount Hiei, Japan at the age of 14.

It doesn't seem like there is much info on the young Japanese climber, though their family does have a private instagram account. Given the difficulty of the climb and her age, we'd expect Ishi to continue in the same style and it is likely we'll see more new in the same vain over the coming months.

The second female V15 climber was Kaddi Lehman of Germany. She climbed "Kryptos" in Basler Jura, Switzerland in 2018. She did this at only 18 years old, proving that the new younger generation of boulderers is really pushing the sport to new levels. Kaddi is still climbing though seems to be held back by medical issues at the moment.

"Byaku-dou" has only seen one other ascent, by Motochika Nagao. The problem is a long overhanging roof that only loses the overhang at the end. It comprises twenty two moves and involves a dynamic move in the second section from the left to right hand, cutting out legs underneath to swing across to the next set of footholds. Watch the crazy hard route in the video being done by Nagao below.

白道 5段 鳳来

Watch this video on YouTube

Ashima Shiraishi also claimed her second V15 "Sleepy Rave" in 2016 and today continues to be one of hardest young climbers of our generation, competing in the IFSC Bouldering World Cup and contending for a place in the 2020 Olympics. Dai Koyadama is a legendary boulderer and climber from Japan, who has put up numerous hard routes throughout the years and now owns the Project Climbing Gym in Yokohama, Japan.