By the age of twelve, Arief Nagara accomplished what fewer than 300 rock climbers (<0.001%) have ever achieved, an outdoor V12. The name of his first V12 is “Lethal Design” and it is a 25 ft tall climb in Red Rock Canyon, Arief’s favorite spot to climb. The climb consists of more than 25 moves that each require strength to grip holds that aren’t wide enough to fit a full fingertip on.
A year later, he scaled an outdoor 5.14a, which is unheard of for a thirteen-year-old. The 5.-scale is the difficulty grade given to climbs taller than 60 ft and require a rope. Intermediate outdoor climbers climb 5.11-5.12, and the few adults, who are dedicated and strong enough, spend their lives working up to 5.14.
Nagara is a freshman at Tech, who has been conquering climbs since he was eight years old, and he’s been competing for Team Touchstone for five years. Team Touchstone is a selective competition team that competes at local and national levels. He spends weekdays at local gyms and trains nine hours a week with Team Touchstone. On the weekends, he often goes to Tahoe or Bishop to climb outdoors.
In an interview with Nagara, he shared that, “To train to get better at climbing you gotta be hella consistent and dedicated and go like a bunch of times per week. And also work on your weaknesses.”
As of now, Nagara has completed five V12s (one of them being a V12/13) and has ranked third at Youth Nationals. He’s hoping to become a professional rock climber and is on track to join the rock climbing greats, so keep a lookout for his name.