ALEX JOHNSON

Alex "AJ" Johnson has been climbing professionally for almost two decades.

She has been a member of the US National Team for eighteen years, winning her first US Open National Championship at age thirteen (2003), and becoming Open Pan American Champion at age fourteen (2004).

In 2008 AJ made history by becoming the first American to win a Boulder World Cup on US soil.

In 2010 she did it again, winning gold in Switzerland, becoming the first American to win two Boulder World Cup gold medals.

Alex briefly retired from competing in 2016 and shifted her focus toward outdoor climbing projects, building an impressive tick-list filled with dozens of iconic first female ascents, hard sends up to V14 with her ascent of The Swarm, and has established several first ascents around the Southwest.

Three years later, she came out of retirement to win a silver medal at the 2019 US Nationals, earning her spot back on the US Team for 2019 and 2020 to pursue an Olympic qualification spot at Sport Climbing’s 2020 debut, but fell just short of qualifying.

In 2018, AJ came out publicly as LGBTQ+ and proudly advocates for equality in sports and the outdoors. Her coming out story combined with her send of The Swarm culminated in a feature length film on the 2022 Reel Rock Film Tour.

She has had one of the longest, most successful competitive climbing careers in history. Continuing that trajectory, she won a silver medal at the 2021 North American Cup, and a bronze in 2022 before taking time off to recover from ACL surgery in 2023.

On the outdoor side, 2022 was Alex’s best year on rock, putting down five V12 (8A+) boulders and three V13 (8B.) She’s now getting back out there after knee surgery, and looking to continue the outdoor rampage with big goals for 2025 ad beyond.