Saturday, January 19, 2008

Lisa Rands climbs The Mandala (v12)

Yesterday (Friday) afternoon, Lisa climbed The Mandala (v12), becoming the first female to climb this line first done by Chris Sharma in 2000. The problem has gained almost mythical status as one of the most popular and most famous lines in the world, and for good reason: it is an extraordinary climb. Lisa was psyched to achieve this goal that she's been aiming for since last season when she first started trying it. A torn bicep, weird weather conditions, a mystery illness, and a flim project revolving around her ascent of the super-highball This Side of Paradise (v10) kept her from success then, but this season, on just her third day of tries, she climbed the line at the third attempt, saying that moments before doing it, she felt strangely certain of success. She nailed the critical, and for her extremely long, first move to perfection, and powered through the rest of the sequence with precision, only hesitating for a second before turning the lip onto the icy summit.

I shot video of the ascent and this will hopefully be available on The North Face website in the near future. See my mention of this in a separate report. Here's a shot of Lisa on The Mandala from last season (clearly not the cold, crisp conditions we enjoyed yesterday):

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Superb Lisa.

Congratulations.

Mick Ryan

Anonymous said...

really well done, A landmark hardest in womens climbing. proper high hard v12 bloc.

Anonymous said...

Fucking-A right!! Nice work Lisa!

krzysiu said...

Nice!!

Anonymous said...

Southern Style for sure.

By the way, there is a bum living in your garage....

Jut

Cantil said...

Congratulations Lisa. Goog. good JOB!
That line is pefect.

Iván, from Spain.

Mannphoto said...

Nice jorb Lisa!!!

Anonymous said...

Lisa!!!

We knew you would do it. Amazing! Inspiring! Now I have to do it!!!

We love you guys,

Noah & Siemay

Tony said...

Bravo!!!
c'est une belle varappe. je suis content pour toi. Good job, i'm happy for you!!!!
a tout
Tony

the bler said...

CONGRATS LISA!!!

Unknown said...

Wow my idol in climbing I wish you all the best, I'm still learning to climb here in thailand.
God bless!
Yen Enero

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Lisa!