Athlete Information

• Name: Yuji Hirayama (pronounced "yoo-jee here-eh-ya-mah")
• Age: 30
• Marital Status: Married
• Children: 2
• Gender: Male
• Height: 5' 8"
• Weight: 143 lbs.
• Years in Sport Climbing: 1984
• Competing Since: 1989
• Born: February 23, 1969 Tokyo, Japan
• Resides: Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan
• Occupation: Professional Climber

Quotable

"I like competitions for climbing, not competition. If I make money, well, I'm lucky. I don't like it when (competitors are) so intense you can't talk with each other."

Accomplishments

• 1999 - Competing at the Summer X Games, San Francisco BIB: 205
• 1998 -

                   No 1- Asian Championships - Taiwan - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 1 - Asian X Games - Thailand - SPC - Difficulty No 1 - Japanese
                             National - Nagano, Japan - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 2 - Rockmasters - Arco, Italy - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 6 - Summer X Games - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 10 - Summer X Games - SPC - Speed
                   No 2 - World Cup - Courmayeur, ITA - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 1 - World Cup - Kranz, SLO - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 1 - World Cup - Milan, ITA - SPC - Difficulty

• 1997 -

                   No 6 - World Championships - Paris, France - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 3 - World Cup - Birmingham, GBR - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 6 - World Cup - IMST, AUT - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 2 - Summer X Games - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 4 - Summer X Games - SPC - Speed

• 1996 -

                   No 1 - Japan Climbing Series - Tokoyo, Japan - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 6 - World Cup - Kranjo, SLO - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 7 - Summer X Games - SPC - Difficulty
                   No 6 - Summer X Games - SPC - Speed

• 1995 -

                   No 4- Summer X Games - SPC - Bouldering and Difficulty
                   No 3- Summer X Games - SPC - SPC - Speed

Yuji Hirayama is the World Cup Champion of 1998 and is regarded as a god in Japan. Yuji is probably the most relaxed and happy competitor on the intense world competition circuit, according to ESPN X Games profile. Yuji has an international background. He traveled in the U.S. in 1987 and settled in France in 1989. His first World Cup victory was in 1989 in Nuremberg, Germany.

He is great friends with Francois Legrand of France. They shared an apartment in Aix-en-Provence and pushed each other when training for the World Cup competitions. Having spent a decade in the south of France before returning to his home country just this past year, he is able to switch effortlessly between Japanese, French and English. A book was published about him in 1997.

He was introduced to climbing in 1984 at a Japanese climbing store. During 1986, he put up many first ascents around his home of Tokyo. (Up to 5.13c). He has remained at the top of his sport - competition climbing and climbing on rocks. Before climbing, he played soccer and baseball when he was young and was also into mountain running. He trained for Judo, and in his early 20's did some Ikido. Hirayama believes that martial arts are very similar to onsight climbing, where everything is your one and only chance.

In 1997, Hirayama dedicated himself to what he considered his biggest goal in climbing. He attempted to onsight the Salathe wall on El Capitan in Yosemite. He stopped competition climbing and trained for four months, crack climbing in the Yosemite Valley. He was accompanied by a Japanese TV crew and after onsighting the first pitches, he fell on the last pitch for that day. He slept on the huge Granite Wall that night and climbed the remaining pitches the next day. He became the first person to climb the whole route from the ground up.

For competition training, he spends four days a week at the indoor wall in Tokyo, working on his power endurance.

His time in America and France has greatly affected his way of looking at life. He follows some traditional Japanese ways, but is a product of three cultures.

He has just returned to Japan. He married in February 1998 to Shie (Shea) and is now the happy father of a son, Yuta (Utah - like the state). In 1999, he and Shie had their second child.

Although leaving France was emotional for him, he is pleased with the life he now has. His parents were not very happy about his choice for his life, initially, they thought the sport was too dangerous and they were expecting him to start his career in the working society of Japan.

Future Goals

Yuji is committed to developing climbing standards throughout the world, especially the Asian countries. He would like to develop a climbing gym in Japan as well as give clinics to help the up-and-coming climbers.