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Alex Johnson Sends the Mandala

posted by dpm on 01/29/2011

Jackie Hueftle
 
Alex Johnson made a recent ascent of the Mandala (V12). Jackie Hueftle sat down with Alex to talk to her about the ascent and her process for selecting projects.
 
DPM: Nice send Alex! So how long have you been in Bishop, and how many times have you been there before?
 
AJ: I've been in Bishop for a month and I'll be staying here for another month. This trip is my third time in Bishop. I spent about a month here two winters ago, and had a weeklong trip the following spring. It's my favorite bouldering area in the US. 
 
DPM: Yeah, Bishop is one of the nicest places to spend a winter. Why did you decide to try the Mandala, and how long did it take you?
 
AJ: I have always thought about trying the Mandala. It was definitely an intimidating line, it's such a huge beautiful prow. I wanted to try it because it's so historical; it's on everybody's dream list. It took a few sessions to work just getting off the ground on the opening moves, I'm not sure how many days. It really came down to sticking the bump to the initial crimp, and as soon as I was able to grab the hold I found myself hanging off the top. 
 
DPM: Nice! So how do you approach a big, hard, historically significant problem like that? Did you come up with your own beta or did you sort it out through videos, or did someone who'd already sent it help you out?
 
AJ: Two years ago I tried working the start with the right-hand approach to the tiny crimp. It felt ridiculously hard and I don't think I ever actually grabbed the hold. This year the right hand crimp apparently broke a little bit, making it surprisingly worse than it already was, which is crazy, so I thought I'd try the left-hand beta, it's a big of a longer move to a better hold. One of the starting footholds is a micro smear and I had to have a very precise shoe and went with the new 5.10 Women's Blackwings. I also had help from Cory French, who has done the Mandala and also the sit-start.
 
DPM: How did it compare for you with other V12’s you've done, like last year's quick ascent of Diaphanous Sea?
 
AJ: I have no idea how to compare the Mandala to other problems, or any of the boulders I've climbed to other problems for that matter. Honestly, grades don't make any sense to me. All of the "hardest" problems I've ever done have suited me exactly, with longer moves on decent crimps. This style seems to be one of my strengths, where as compression, for example, isn't something I excel at. I could try to compare all the hard problems with long crimpy moves to each other and they'd all feel the same. If all grades were completely wiped out and I could start over and compare Clear Blue Skies and A Maze of Death to a squeezy roof problem out in North Carolina called The Third Rail I would tell you that The Third Rail is harder. (It's V8/9)[ed. CBS and Maze are given V12]. The bottom line is, when it comes to the grades of boulder problems I have no idea.
 
DPM: What's next?!
 
AJ: I don't know what's next. When I came out here, the two things at the top of my list were Haroun and the Mandala. Doing Haroun was exciting, but climbing the Mandala when I did was a bit of a surprise to me, and I haven't planned ahead enough to choose another project out here. But I do have a month left to play. Maybe I'll try The Swarm.
 
DPM: Any advice for other climbers, especially female climbers, about how they can crush like you do?
 
AJ: You should ask Angie Payne this question because she climbed 8B.
 
DPM: Thanks Alex!!!
 
AJ: You're welcome!!
 
Watch Alex Johnson climbing the classic Stained Glass (V10) HERE