Katie Lamb has made the fifth ascent, and first female ascent of Equanimity, 8C, in Lake Tahoe, USA.

In climbing Equanimity, Katie becomes the first female climber to have climbed more than one boulder at 8C, having made an ascent of Box Therapy last year. Equanimity is Katie's ninth boulder at 8B+ and above. 

Initially known as 'The Seams Project', and first climbed by Carlo Traversi in 2020, Equanimity is a boulder renowned for its technical difficulty. After making the first ascent, Traversi described the granite boulder it as a 'heinous power tech boulder with the worst footholds imaginable', suggesting that the moves were 'definitely the hardest' that he had done that year, during a year in which had also climbed Creature from the Black Lagoon, 8C+.

When Jimmy Webb made the first repeat of Equanimity three years later, he described the boulder as 'potentially a contender for the hardest technical boulder in the world', with David Fitzgerald, who made the third ascent just a week later, describing the boulder as one that 'rewards experience over anything else' with footholds that are 'as close to non-existent as it gets'.

Conditions are also a challenge, with Webb - who lived near Equanimity at the time of his ascent - saying that the boulder receives sun for the majority of the day, so the only options available are to wait until dark, or to risk waiting until later in the season, when the prospect of snow complicates things.

As suggested by its working name, the boulder follows a series of seams, used as sidepulls and undercuts, up a very slightly overhanging wall on - as already discussed - very poor feet. Whilst the handholds are all relatively positive, the style of climbing, with laybacks, sidepulls, and gastons, means that the upper body cannot compensate for poor footwork.

The hard climbing ends with a left hand jug - the one being reached for in the photo below - but a tall V8 (~7B/+) boulder remains, full of committing smears and thin hand jams, before the climber is eventually able to reach the sloping lip of the boulder, around 30 feet off the ground.

In the words of David Fitzgerald, 'Truly the full package'.

Speaking after the ascent, Katie said:

'This journey was almost entirely a mental challenge, which feels emblematic of a broader narrative in my recent scaling. I've been on a skill building mission to try and make this low angle tech style a strength'.

'The crux for me was the process of losing trust and then building back to a point of tenuous belief… whatever that might mean to each scaler. In the end, I found my equanimous mind'.

'Keenan Takahashi and I did it on the same day, which almost never happens'.

For those, like me, who are not entirely sure what 'Equanimity' means, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as 'Evenness of mind or temper, the quality or condition of being undisturbed by elation, depression, or agitating emotion; unruffledness'.

You can watch a short video of Katie projecting the boulder, as well as some clips from the ascent, below: