Yuji Hirayama
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Yuji Hirayama (平山ユージ) is a Japanese rock climber, born on February 23, 1969[1].
Yuji is the first Asian climber to win the climbing world cup in 1998, and in 2000 for a second time[2].
Among his other notable achievements are the first ascent of a possible 5.15a/9a+ called Flat Mountain[3]. And the first onsight of a 5.14b/8c (White Zombie) in 2004 [4]. (On 2005 Aug 10, Tomas Mrazek had the 2nd 8c onsight, Pata Negra at Rodellar in northern Spain[5].)
Hirayama has put up and repeated hard boulder problems, such as the third ascent of Uma V14 at Shiobara in 2008, and the first ascent of Ginga V14 at Kanoto in 2008[6].
Hirayama is also a big-wall climber with ascents of El Capitan. During September 2002, Hirayama and Hans Florine climbed The Nose in 2:48:55, setting a new speed record. In 2007 this record was broken by the German "Huberbuam" (Alexander Huber and Thomas Huber)[7]. The two brothers climbed The Nose on October 8th, 2007 in 2 hours, 45 minutes and 45 seconds. On July 2, 2008, Hirayama and Florine retook the record in a time of 2:43:33. Then on October 12, 2008, they extended the record to 2:37:05[8].
[edit] Trivia
- Flat Mountain comes from a literal translation of Yuji's family name, Hira(平)-yama(山), into English.
- Back in 2001 in his USA tour with François Legrand he had to climb up the rope on the route Ghetto Booty 5.14c / 8c+ after falling on the crux move to get to the next quick-draw. He thus pulled hard on the rope but when he let go the rope formed a loop which two finger got caught in and were crushed, as he put all his weight on the rope. The result was a severe sprain of his right hand middle finger. This took him out of climbing for 6 months. Also filmed and released in "The Professionals".
- His first 8c onsight of White Zombie in 2004-09-01 is still not widely accepted by the climbing community, as according to his own words he belayed his friend who placed the draws and chalked up the holds, but didn't watch him climbing. There has been a grade discussion, because it is argued that the route is a soft 8c and some even mark it as 8b+[9].
- In 2010 "Climb Park Base Camp" opened, a climbing gym produced by Yuji Hirayama in the Saitama prefecture, Japan[10].
[edit] References
- ^ http://ameblo.jp/stonerider/
- ^ http://www.b-camp.jp/category01/index02.html
- ^ http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/flatmountain/
- ^ http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/yuji14bonsight/
- ^ http://www.freakclimbing.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1373
- ^ http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/yuji_hirayama_still_has_the_power/
- ^ http://www.urbanclimbermag.com/411/news/yuji_hirayama_still_has_the_power/
- ^ http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/the_nose_speed_record_broken_again/
- ^ http://www.8a.nu/forum/ViewForumThread.aspx?ObjectId=12208&ObjectClass=CLS_ForumGeneral&CountryCode=GLOBAL
- ^ http://www.b-camp.jp/
[edit] External links
- video of onsight of White Zombie
- http://vimeo.com/16279796, Road to Slovenia, Yuji Hirayama video portrait
- http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/features/japan235/, Way of Weekend Warrior article
- http://www.b-camp.jp/, Base Camp climbing gym produced by Yuji Hirayama
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