Lisa Rands has been steadily ticking off V10s around her home areas near Bishop, California. Fresh off of sending two of them -- Beefcake at the Sad Boulders and Lowrider at the Happy Boulders -- Rands shot across the Sierras and into Yosemite to have a go at the Valley megaclassic, Thriller. Rands had been dreaming about the line ever since trying it a few times last April.

Conservatively rated (read: sandbagged) in the guidebook at V9, most climbers place the stunning 18-foot line of powerful granite crimps at solid V10. Rands made quick work of Thriller's lower half, but was stymied by the final crux two feet below the lip, described by Rands as "a long lock-off on a sharp 'credit card' gaston." After a day of sussing sequences, Rands rested for a couple of days before returning (with three shredded fingertips taped) and fired through the final crux on her second try of the third day. "I slapped at the top feeling completely out of control," says Rands. "My left hand cut off just as my right hand hit the incut lip."