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In September 2022, we spoke with then 12-year-old Beckett Hsin after he sent Spatial Awareness Low (V13/14) at Lincoln Lake. At the time, Hsin called out two goals: to send Midnight Express (V14), in Boulder Canyon, and to send Daniel Wood’s The Game (V15), also in Boulder Canyon. The latter, he stressed, was more a “distant far-away future” goal.
This past August, he placed 12th and 19th for bouldering and lead climbing, respectively, at the Youth World Championships. Taking a break from plastic in the months that followed, he revisited that dream tick list. In September, he sent Midnight Express, which, given that Spatial Awareness Low favors the small, he viewed as his first of the grade. A month later, he also sent Chocolate Jesus (V13), in Wild Basin. And this past week, after a total of just eight days of effort since 2022, he finished off The Game.
Hsin joins a list of great athletes who threw down at a young age. Ashima Shiraishi also managed her first V15 at age 14. At age 13, Japanese crusher Mishka Ishi claimed the title for youngest V15 ascent.
“The day I sent was pretty crazy,” Hsin told Climbing. “Me and my older brother, Sam, had been trying The Game for a couple weeks, and I had only just finished working my beta the session before. We went back a few days later to start giving ground burns, and within my first few attempts I fell off the second crux move, and I realized that I could actually send. I started getting super psyched, and a few attempts later I was on top of the boulder.”
Woods FA’d The Game in 2010 after 17 days of effort across two years. He initially called it V16, which made it the hardest boulder in the U.S., if not the world. New beta was found with time, and Woods believes holds improved due to brushing, so the grade settled at V15. Over the past 13 years, The Game has seen repeats by many top climbers, including Carlo Traversi, Jon Cardwell, Jimmy Webb, and Matt Fultz. The eight-move boulder spans a 60-degree prow, requiring power and finesse.
“Now that I’ve finished my main outdoor goals for the year, I’m psyched for the comp season to start in a few weeks, I’d like to try and make Youth Worlds again,” says Hsin. “I’m also still psyched to keep getting on other hard outdoor boulders!”