Lisa Rands, 30, of Bishop, California has climbed V12 boulder problems and is no slouch when it comes to bouldering way off-the-deck ground-up style, with no top rope practice. At Joshua Tree she climbed two old John Bachar highballs, So High (V5 R) and Planet X (V6 R) saying that both were, "bouldering highlights" for her. She found them mentally challenging and Planet X was also physically very hard. As she's only 5-foot-4-and-a-half , she was extremely psyched to succeed on the dyno of that problem.

Says Wills Young her husband, "After three knee surgeries in two years, she is super happy finally to be able to push herself physically again. Other than some easy sessions in Bishop to rehab her knee, and a little bit of bouldering down in Patagonia in December, this was her first time bouldering since the Petzl Rock Trip last summer. She was a little hesitant to try anything too high at first, but ended up trying those highball problems at the suggestion of photographer Tim Kemple, who was shooting some images for an upcoming Urban Climber/The North Face promotion."

After Joshua Tree she then moved camp to Fontainebleau, France where she upped the anté and succeeded on the classic Font highballs Megalithe (V10), Rubis sur l'Ongle (V8) and Lady Big Claque (V7). She also completed the lower but extremely difficult Haute Tension (V10).

You can read more despatches and view photographs from Lisa Rand's Font trip at the North Face website