NASIF KABIR


20 years old


Home Town: NYC, Dhaka, Toronto





If you’ve ever had the pleasure of interacting with Nasif, you know why we’re so excited to share this interview. Read on to get a little taste of the Nasif Kabir experience. There’s so much to this guy, so we’re just going to list off the things we talked about for your sake.

  1. Nasif’s insane one year progression from V0-V10
  2. The Glenn, Leo, The Pact, Smoki Bois
  3. The future of climbing in Bangladesh
  4. Climbing in New York
  5. Flashing and downgrading
  6. Decoding Nasif’s 8a posts
  7. PhD and V17 climbing



Who are you?

Typical Bangladeshi boy. Moved to Toronto and started climbing three years ago and I can't stop.


What do you do? What's your profession?

I'm a student studying neuroscience at NYU. I'm not in the pre-med track so hopefully in the future I get into grad school for neuroscience and then get a little PhD.



Genesis



I want to bring it all the way back to the very beginning. I want to say baby Nasif, but it wasn’t that long ago when you started climbing.

No, no it wasn't. I started climbing in grade 11. That's like two years, nine months ago.


What’s your story Nasif?


This story is madness. I was born in the States in New York. But then afterwards we moved back to Bangladesh a few years after. But I have no memory of me staying in New York. And then in Bangladesh, I did all my schooling there until grade 10. And so after grade 10, me and my parents decided to move to Toronto.


I climbed once like three years before we moved to Toronto. And then I was like, oh, this is sick, man. This is like some next level wizardry type shit. I wanted to be involved in this thing.


So the first time you ever experienced climbing was in Bangladesh?

No, the first time ever was in Thailand.


So me and one of my uncles went on a little trip to Bangkok. He used to live in Bangkok for a bit, he already climbed. I was so shocked about how fun and good it felt to climb.


So I remember we were there for three days and the day before the flight, I was like, we have to go back another day to climb. I was like, this is too good. I was already in it before I was in it.


It was instant. Maybe you could paint us a picture of what that felt like.


We started off on the top rope. And then, I don't know, I was just moving up, man. I was like, oh my days, this feels nice. So high up. When I look around, I'm like, damn boy, I'm the highest guy here. Come on!


So it clicked right away for you?


Yeah, even though I didn't have any strength, I think I had something else that helped me.


Let's move on to your life in Canada. How did being in Canada progress your climbing?


So I started climbing and then three months in, this little kid called Leo Wolf dragged me into the boards. He's like, you're fucking wasting time out here in this stupid gym. Come to the Moonboard.


Leo’s climbing is sick.

Yeah, yeah. This Leo guy is who made me who I am. So, okay, I'm climbing on the moon board. I can't do jack shit. I touch it and I fall off. But every day I see myself doing one extra move. So I was like, damn. Okay, I can do this,.. I can do this.




Nasif and Leo


The Glen



How did that lead to the Glen?


Leo dragged me to the Glen and this is like me eight months into climbing. The first time I went to the Glen I was like, what the hell is this thing? This is not supposed to exist here. The Glen is like a five minute drive from Niagara Falls.


I'm itching to come back every day. Even in school the only thing I'm thinking about are the boulders I'll check out.


As a young student, how were you getting out to the Glen?


Sometimes me and Leo even took the fucking GO train all the way to and from the Glen.


With your pads and all that? you're on the train?


Yeah, crash pads and everything, we just go on the train.






You’re in a video called The Pact. Was there an actual pact? Or is it just a name?

We were going to the Glen. Me, Leo and Cisco, the guy who made the video, we shook a deal and we called it our pact that we were not gonna post any of the climbs in The Pact and none of the music that we're gonna use for The Pact can be used for Instagram Reels. And we were like, this is the pact, we're not gonna break it.


I want to talk about Rigor Mortis. You climbed that within nine months of climbing. What does it go at?


It goes at nine bucks. Most people take nine, but I feel like with the beta I use it's a bit lower than a 9 but yeah, it's still a climb that I was like damn bro, I did this thing.



That seemed like a really proud moment for you. But then soon after you sent BFF. What do those letters mean to you?

My first V10 man. I couldn’t believe it. It's in The Pact. I did BFF and then the next weekend I did the Gunt. Those few weeks, I was beasting. It's not the best line of the Glen, but it’s the entry level V10 and at the end I had to try hard. I was swearing out of my mind.



Nasif on BFF



If you guys are curious, you should really check out Smoki Bois “The Pact” to see what we're talking about.

It seemed like that was a turning point. After unlocking that double digit, you just went off with it. What do you think it was?


It was the beginning of the summer and then school was over so I could put a lot more energy into training consistently. After school was over, there was so much more time. I probably had the strength. I just didn't have the conditioning. And then I just got conditioned and started beasting.


I Think a lot of it has to do with who you were climbing around. It seems like a lot of those guys are super strong.


These people are the ones who taught me climbing man. When I started, Leo was already climbing V11. I was like, bro, how can I be like these kids?


In the gym, these guys are pinching the moonboard like they're gonna break it off. Like a monster is just trying to go into their body. I was like, wow, what the hell is going on? I can't even go up one hold. I was just mesmerized looking at them. I was like, when am I gonna be able to take off my shirt?



Bangladesh




I think you mentioned that you may have been one of the first climbers out of Bangladesh to be climbing at such a level.

There's one other guy I know, Naimun. If you guys know, he climbs at BP in New York and he's also a climber out of Bangladesh. He told me that I might be one of the first to climb double digits. But I don't know, like it's just a claim I took because I had the chance, you know.


What's the state of climbing back home for you in Bangladesh?

So two days ago I went and checked out the first climbing gym in Bangladesh. I didn't know that the level was that much different. I thought there were still some climbers in bangladesh, but yeah, turns out no.


I think one of the reasons is that the setting here is more like adventure climbing. You just have to figure it out, it's not really hard climbing.


Do you have a stake in the future of Bangladesh's climbing scene? Are you trying to actively push the sport in your country?

Yeah man, one of the big goals of mine with climbing is to bring it to the people of Bangladesh. And I also want to start the climbing federation here. But yeah, it's hard right now because of the political state of the country. The government got overtaken. Yeah, it's a bit madness.


Bangladesh needs climbing.

Yeah, the matter of fact is Bangladesh needs climbing. Everyone would have been busy with climbing and none of this would have happened.


Nasif for president.



Squamish



I just want to quickly talk about Your trip to Squamish.


I've had two trips to Squamish, my first year climbing and then this year I went. So the first year… Mega tick list. Like millions of V9s. I was going ham on the V9 grade


You make pretty quick work of all your harder climbs. And especially on a trip like this, when you have such an extensive tick list. How are you approaching these climbs and how are you getting so much done so quickly?

Climbing with people who are a lot better like Leo and Cisco, they look at a boulder and they’re like, this is what I'm going to do. And they execute perfectly. That's where I've learned.


It’s this execution style. Whenever I look at a boulder I just know what to do.


Getting it on the flash go is something I really want to do every boulder, even if it's far above my grade for flashing, I'd still give it a very good flash attempt. Because I think you get to learn a lot from a good flash attempt.




Training

The board climbing is probably the secret to your madness. You think that's accurate?

Yeah, yeah. Board climbing and Lock off, man, lock off.


What's the k grade?

K-grade, kilter grade man, inventor of the K-grades. So K10 can be anywhere from V3 to V10, you know. It's like a range. You can't really trust it.


What's the bucket nation?


“The Bucket Nation”. Every hold is a bucket, man. It's the bucket mentality. You go to any climb, you're like, these holds are buckets. That's how you look at it. And then you never fall off. And there's this little Nation building, the bucket nation.


Count me in, that sounds like the way to go. So you said that you're kind of in a power phase right now. Do you have an organized training method?

Right now I'm in Bangladesh and it's a bit harder. Before school, before the term ended, I was having a good phase and I was doing a lot of heavy weights, weighted pull ups and stuff. Explosive ones and then big moves on the boards. Not focusing too much on my fingers because I want to gain a bit more weight. Six, seven pounds of muscle. But that is over a lot of time.

So right now in Dhaka, the climbing gym is also pretty far off. I've been there twice, but I can't really train everything there. I just do a bit of climbing and then I hit the gym. I do a lot of shoulders and then back, chest, like a regular gym day. That's the training right now.


Have you always had lifting as a part of your routine or is this new for your power cycle?

I've always had something like a bit of lifting at the end of one session of the week. Like one session of the week I do a little bit.



New York


Let's talk about the New York climbing scene. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear Karajo?

What a banger. That's the first thing you see when you enter the gunks. Gigantosaurus boulder man, that sick AF boulder man. I went with Johnny and then Johnny was like, “we're gonna smack this thing up in half.” And then I'm like, yes, this is my style. It's big holds, powerful, something tensiony. I knew it was my shit man. And then I did it on my second Red Point go. It was super windy at the top and the exposure was so nice. You see all of the Gunks and the valley. It’s so nice.


So other than Karajo, do you have any ticks that are in that grade range?


Yeah, yeah, so I did Forbidden Forest (V11) a few weeks ago. That was the first time I went to the cave area and it's mad sick. That line is beautiful and I'm also pretty close on the low start, Further into the Forbidden Forest. I think next session.


When it comes to grading and downgrading, you're pretty strict. Why do you think that is? Why do you think that everything is feeling so easy for you?

No, everything doesn't feel easy. I think it might be really skewed because from the beginning, I climbed on the moonboard and with such strong climbers. Leo used to climb the moonboard and he used to be like, oh, V10, this is V6.


That's like a big part of it. And in the Glen, everything is just tougher man, like it's just harder. And that's the crag I started climbing at.


Not everything is soft. I went to Great Bedrington to try Roses and then Something from Nothing. Something from Nothing is V11 as fuck.






What is Nasif Saying?





I'm gonna say a thing and I want you to tell me what it means. Jimmy, what is that?

Jimmy. All the boys are Jimmy. All the homies, they're just Jimmy. They climb as well as Jimmy. They're Jimmy's. Come on Jimmy.


All right, Keenan, what's that?

It's the same thing, man. Some people are jimmy, some are keenan


What's a Jimmy and what's a Kenan?

I don't know, I can't describe it. just like... I like saying it, you know? It feels nice coming through my throat, so…


Yeah, it's either you're a Kenan or you're a Jimmy.


Alright, what are you? A Keenan or a Jimmy?


Me? I'm Jimmy.



What does “smash potatoes” mean?

Smashed potatoes. That's how you smash blocks, man. You smash them up like potatoes.



What’s Next for Nasif?



Last thing before I let you go, where is your climbing going?


I wanna climb V17. That's the goal. I wanna climb as hard as possible by humans. I wanna climb V20 man.


So you're gonna finish up your undergrad, you wanna go to grad school, cop a sneaky PhD, and you wanna climb the whole time?

Yeah, yeah, climb the entire time. OG plan was to go med school. But you only have one life, man. I'm not trying to fight away in a fucking office trying to operate on some old man’s head. I want to do some research on some new shit that helps people. I don't want to stick to the usual. I want to get out the box.


Do you plan on sticking around NYC for much longer?


If I get an opportunity to do my grad school here, I'd probably do it here. I don't want to go out man. I love it.


All of these guys are Northeast, man. We're a nation. We're unstoppable.