Yuji Hirayama (53) liberates Peaceful Mountain 9a at Mt Futago, Japan
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Yui Takahashi / Alloposidae
Three months after establishing the 8c+ Hanabi at Futagoyama (Mt Futago), Yuji Hirayama has now freed his other project at the same crag which according to the Japanese climber could well be 9a. The 30m route is an extension to Korossaru, an intense 8a barely 5 meters high, bolted by the legendary 53-year-old a year ago. Two meters above Korossaru there’s good rest, which is then followed by the 8A+ crux section and then circa 15 meters of easier climbing to reach the chain.
Hirayama explained "I couldn't find a solution for the crux but when Ryuichi Murai came here in early December, he showed me a sequence. From then I tried the link-up for 3 months, then finally on the 6th of March I succeeded. As to the grade, I think it's easier than Flat Mountain 9a/a+ and harder than my recent Hanabi 8c+ and Time Machine 8c+, so that's why I propose 9a for this route."
As for the name, Hirayama explained "The route is called Peaceful Mountain. In fact, Mt Futago is a mountain where peace reigns. Here you encounter endless smiles, friends, human relationships, creativity, routes, a community of climbers, freedom and challenges. In addition, my surname suggests it: 平 "Hira" (peace) 山 "Yama" (mountain)."
Hirayama adds one last, important final thought: "Now I realise that peace is really precious. And even that a dictator is enough to ruin this peace… Suddenly… Stupidity.. Sadly… Peaceful mountain is the place to be."
YUJI HIRAYAMA - PORTRAIT OF THE TIMELESS CLIMBER
Yuji Hirayama’s zest for climbing seems boundless. For the last three decades the Japanese has been a prime player in the international climbing scene, ever since his fast ascents in 1986 of Phoenix and Cosmic Debris, two standard-bearing climbs repeated on his first visit to Yosemite when he was aged a mere 17. Two years later Hirayama repeated Les Specialistes, the steep bulge in the Verdon gorge considered one of the hardest in the world at the time, and he also made one of the world's most difficult onsights by walking up to, and waltzing up, the extremely technical 8a Orange Mécanique at Cimaï.
In 1995 he made a faultless, famous onsight of The Sphinx Crack (5.13b/c) in Colorado, and he then successfully transferred this crag fitness to the plastic competition circuit, winning the Lead World Cup in 1998 and confirming his unbeatable form with overall victory once again in 2000, as well as winning the Rock Master trophy twice, in 1991 and 2001. After retiring from competitions, in 2003 he left his mark with Flat Mountain in Japan, making an early first ascent of a 9a+ sports climb therefore that even today is considered one of the hardest in the country.
But Hirayama's penchant for onsighting remained and while in 1999 he onsighted Mortal Kombat in Castillon, an 8c he subsequently downgraded to 8b+, in 2004 he stunned the climbing community with world’s first onsight of an 8c sports climb, White Zombie at the Baltzola cave in Spain.
This groundbreaking moment was nothing more than a stepping stone for one of the world’s greatest allrounders, and unsurprisingly Hirayama soon returned to Yosemite where in 1997 he had narrowly missed out on on-sighting the Salathé route on El Capitan; climbing ground-up over two days, this attempt is widely recognized as one of the most important ascents of this genre. The Big Stone remained a fixed venue and between 2002 and 2008 Hirayama teamed up with Hans Florine to break The Nose speed record a staggering four times, while in 2009 he paid a quick visit to Squamish in Canada where he pulled off a fast repeat of Cobra Crack, one of the hardest trad cracks in the world.
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