Bouldering is a super fun climbing discipline that features some of the strongest athletes in the world. In this list, I break down the 10 best ones!
So, who’s the best boulderer in the world? The best boulderers in the world are:
- Daniel Woods
- Nalle Hukkataival
- Charles Albert
- Ashima Shiraishi
- Tomoa Narasaki
- Jimmy Webb
- Shauna Coxsey
- Dai Koyamada
- Adam Ondra
- Mishka Ishi
Living legend Daniel Woods still holds the throne as the greatest boulderer alive, despite some stiff competition from Finnish crusher Nalle Hukkataival. There’s also a strong female presence on this list, with Shauna Coxsey, Mishka Ishi, and Ashima Shiraishi continuing to push the limits of their gender. Although a ‘best of’ list is always going to generate some controversy (and you could make a solid argument to shuffle some of the names on this list around), all ten of these athletes are at the peak of the sport right now and are some of the greatest boulderers to ever live.
10. Mishka Ishi
Mishka Ishi became the third woman, and the youngest person ever, to climb a V15 routes with her ascent of Byaku-dou, which she climbed when she was only 13 years old. To put that in perspective: world-famous climver Jakob Schuberty didn’t even start climbing until he was 12. For a 13-year-old to be sending some of the hardest routes in the world is absolutely mind-boggling.
Aside from that headline-grabbing achievement, very little is known about Mishka. She’s a young up-and-comer out of Japan who’s incredibly passionate about bouldering, and with one V15 already under her belt, it’s hard to imagine that we won’t see her higher up on this list in the coming years. For now, though, until she gets a bit of a longer tick sheet, 10th plays is where she sits.
9. Adam Ondra
The bouldering purists of the world might call me biased, but I will die on the hill that Adam Ondra deserves his place as one of the best boulderers alive today.
Although he’s known as a sport climbing specialist, Ondra has a fanatical desire to be the best in all areas of rock climbing, and that desire has occasionally led him into the bouldering world. Although it’s never been his main focus, Ondra has shown on rare occasions just how strong he is, and just how good he could be if he chose to make this discipline his full-time focus.
Two events in particular highlight just how good Ondra is at bouldering. The first is his flash of Dave Graham’s test piece Jade V14, which was the first-ever flash of that difficulty. Not only did Ondra perform this feat, but he made it look easy.
The second is the training regimen that he underwent when projecting La Dura Dura. Deciding that he needed more pure strength to be able to work on the route, Ondra turned to bouldering to train; in doing so, he climbed the only V16 in existence at the time and then did the first ascent of another V16.
Just in case that’s not clear enough: Adam Ondra climbed the two hardest bouldering problems in the world as training. Although he’s far from a specialist, Ondra deserves his place on this list.
8. Dai Koyamada
Although lesser known in North America, Dai Koyamada is a living legend of the bouldering world who’s been around for more than two decades. Koyamada has the second longest tick sheet of anyone on this list, with more than 20 routes graded V15 or harder. He’s put up first ascents on some legendary problems including Nayuta and The Story of Two Worlds Low Start.
Really, given everything, Dai should deserve to be a little higher on this list, except for the fact that he’s headed into the twilight of his career. At age 44, it’s unlikely that Dai will be pushing the limits of bouldering much higher. Had this list come out five years ago, he very well could be near the top; as it stands, though, he still deserves a spot.
Besides, it’s not like Dai has seen a massive regression in his climbing strength. Only three years ago he sent Nayuta V16, his first FA of that grade, which shows that he’s still stronger than just about every other climber out there. Dai Koyamada is an absolute titan of the bouldering world, and he more than deserves his spot on this list.
7. Shauna Coxsey
Shauna Coxsey is another old-school name who can still hang with the best in the world when it comes to bouldering. Hailing out of Britain and having spent the majority of her life as a professional boulderer, Coxsey has an impressive tick sheet that includes four V13 routes and one V14.
Where she’s really made a name for herself, though, is on the competition scene. Coxsey is Britain’s best competition climber, and she’s managed to win 11 world cup bouldering titles throughout 8 years of competition. Her explosive style has helped her transition into the new-age bouldering world, and she remains a medal favourite heading into Tokyo in 2021.
Although her focus has shifted a little from outdoor bouldering and more towards the combined format, Coxsey still stands as a staple of the bouldering community, and she’s more than earned her spot on this list.
6. Jimmy Webb
In a climbing world that’s fast becoming dominated by new-age parkour moves and indoor climbing gyms, Jimmy Webb stands as a relic of a somewhat bygone era: an old school, dirtbag boulderer who power-screamed his way up some of the hardest routes in the world.
His list of achievements is long, but some of the highlights include:
- Seven V16 routes, including the first ascents of Sleepwalker and Ephyra
- Six flashes on routes graded V13 or harder
- Winner of the 2013 Psicobloc Master’s Series, where he beat out all-time greats like Chris Sharma, Daniel Woods, and Tommy Caldwell
Jimmy Webb also has some notable achievements in the highball world, like his repeat of Living Large V15. Webb is known for his insane strength and fearless attitude, and those attributes have propelled him to the seventh spot on this list.
5. Tomoa Narasaki
I thought long and hard about where to put Tomoa Narasaki on this list. On one hand, he has so little outdoor experience that it’s almost hard to quantify: he has two V14 routes to his name, and that’s it. The rest of Tomoa’s climbing career happens on plastic.
On the other hand, when you actually watch him climb, he’s so goddam good that it’s almost mindboggling. If he’s in the zone, Tomoa is clearly the best boulderer in the world (at least in a competition setting), and it’s not even close. His strength, insane explosiveness, and route reading ability put him on a platform of his own.
Also, his outdoor achievements look a lot better when you glance beneath the hood: one of those V14’s was a flash, and the other he completed on a short climbing trip. Tomoa’s never really dedicated a lot of time or effort into climbing outdoors, but I have no doubt that if he did, he would be able to hang in there with the best in the world.
Where Tomoa does climb is on the competition scene, and when he does, he’s truly something to watch. Tomoa has four gold medals over four years of competition to show, but the best example of his dominance was probably the 2019 combined qualifiers in Hachioji. Here, with the world watching and the best in the world all vying for a spot at the Olympics, Tomoa put on an absolute clinic.
He dominated the bouldering field to the point that it was almost insulting; he looked like he was on a different planet from everyone else. It was a low-gravity day for Tomoa, who flashed problems that some legendary climbers (like Adam Ondra and Jakob Schubert) couldn’t even get a zone on.
Like I said, he doesn’t climb outside much, but Tomoa’s astonishing strength and explosiveness have earned him a spot on this list.
4. Ashima Shiraishi
If you want to understand just how good of a rock climber Ashima Shiraishi is, consider the following two points:
- She’s a generalist climber who doesn’t even specialize in bouldering
- She’s only 19 years old and is far from her prime
Now, take into account that, despite those two things, she’s still the fourth best climber in the world.
Ashima is a mind-bogglingly good climber. Her creative route reads and insane flexibility allow her to flow through tough sections as if they were effortless, and she’s used that skill to dominate all aspects of the sport. She undoubtedly has the best outdoor resume of any female boulderer, with two V15’s and four V14’s under her belt (along with two 9a routes on lead). She was the youngest person (until Mishka came along) and the first female to ever send a V15, an achievement that launched her into the stratosphere of climbing popularity.
Furthermore, she’s a strong all-around climber and a constant threat on the competition scene. She won gold in the 2019 US National Championship of climbing, beating out known crusher Margo Hayes and Olympic climber Brooke Raboutou. And, again, I think it’s important to point out that Ashima is still a teenager and that the best part of her career is yet to come.
As it stands, though, Ashima remains the best female boulderer on the planet today, and the she’s earned the fourth place on this list.
3. Charles Albert
I think we can all agree that there are levels of insanity. There are people who enjoy dangling off of rocks as a spare time; above them, you have people who choose to make that their profession; above them, you have people who dangle off of rocks, 40 feet up, without any form of protection.
And then, above all of them, you have Charles Albert, who does all of that without wearing shoes.
I mean, I don’t even have the words to describe just how purely ridiculous that is. Albert has carved a niche for himself as ‘the barefoot climber’, where he’s casually continued to be one of the best boulderers in the world without even bothering to use the proper footwork.
Now, of course, Albert has his reasons for this. In interviews you can hear him talk about the balance and sensitivity it provides him, how his style has adapted, etc. The point still stands, though: I have very little faith in my ability to climb a V4 without shoes, let alone a V14.
It doesn’t stop there, though. While not wearing shoes, Albert went and established the second hardest boulder problem in the world with No Kpote Only. Though the route was downgraded from Albert’s suggested grade of V17 to a mere V16/17, it still stands as a testament to how insanely strong he is that he was able to pull it off at all.
Albert doesn’t have the most impressive tick sheet compared to some of the other climbers on this list, but that one ascent alone cements him in the upper echelon of boulderers.
2. Nalle Hukkataival
Nalle takes the idea of ‘people who dangle off of rocks for a career’ to an entirely new level. For four years, from 2012 to 2016, he did little else except beat his head against the four-move sequence that made up what he dubbed the Lappnor Project. Finally, after thousands of tries and almost half a decade of effort, Nalle stuck the last move of the project and topped out Burden of Dreams, which he would then go on to grade as the world’s first V17.
Now, that grade is as of yet unconfirmed, as no one has tried to repeat the route (I’ve emailed Adam Ondra several times to try it, but he hasn’t got back to me). Nalle is known for being very strict with his grading, though, so I have no reason to doubt that he would have been soft with Burden.
The makes him the sole V17 ascensionist in the world, which was almost enough to earn him the number spot on this list. As it stands, though, Nalle has already cemented his place as one of the best boulderers in history: along with Burden of Dreams, he has the third most hard first ascents and the third most hard boulder problems of any climber, ever. Given the fact that he’s still in his prime, Nalle could have very well been at the top of this list if he hadn’t run into the living legend of…
1. Daniel Woods
Daniel Woods is maybe, just maybe, the best boulderer of all time. Although I’m not positive that I would crown him as so quite yet, I think that Woods has definitely done enough to cement himself as the greatest boulderer alive today.
Woods has 34 boulder problems to his name that are graded v15 or higher, 6 of which are V16. That already puts him in a league of his own when it comes to hard ascents; in fact, the only person who can really challenge Woods’s volume is Dai Koyamada, and even Dai only has one third of the V16 routes that Woods does.
Among some of Daniels most notable achievements include Creature From the Black Lagoon, the first consensus V16 in the world, and The Process, a mind-boggling 50-foot highball V16 that will likely never be repeated.
More impressive than the individual stats, though, has Woods’ sheer dominance over the sport. For more than a decade he’s been one of the top three boulderers on the planet. Even other legendary climbers, like Jimmy Webb, hold Woods in an echelon of his own due to his power and mind-boggling finger strength.
At 31, it’s likely that Woods is closer to the end of his career than he is the start. As it stands, though, there’s not a boulderer alive who has more achievements than him, and that’s enough to earn him the number one spot as the greatest boulderer alive today.