Lisa Rands (born October 21, 1975) is an American rock climber. She is known for her bouldering for which in 2002, she became the first American female to win IFSC World Cup bouldering competitions, and topped the IFSC world boulder rankings in 2002. Rands was the first American female to climb boulders of grade , and , and was the second-ever female in history to climb a boulder. As well as making first female ascents (FFAs) of boulders such as The Mandala , Rands was the first female in history to do an E8-graded traditional climbing route, The End of the Affair (E8 6c). Early life Rands was born in Southern California in 1975, where she grew up. She described herself as a "tomboy" in high school, where she initially focused on athletics and gymnastics, however, in her junior year, a boyfriend introduced her to climbing and bouldering. Rands went on to study geology at California State Polytechnic University, and after moving to Colorado for a new job after graduating, she later returned to her native California to focus on climbing. Climbing career Competition climbing In December 2001, competing in her first-ever event of the IFSC Bouldering World Cup, Rands came 2nd in the Birmingham, England stage. In June 2002, Rands became the first American female climber to win a stage of the IFSC Bouldering World Cup, when she placed first at Lecco, Italy, beating Corine Theroux, and Sandrine Levet. In July 2002, Rands won her second major international competition coming first in the "Open des Ecrins at L'Argentiere", France's longest-running and largest bouldering competition. During 2002, Rands was ranked first in the IFSC world rankings for female bouldering. Rands won editions of the 2001, and the 2002 Professional Climbers Association (PCA) open bouldering competition in Salt Lake City, and came second in the 2003 PCA in Salt Lake City to Alex Johnson. Rands won the world's longest-running and largest outdoor bouldering competition, the Phoenix Bouldering Competition (PBC), three years running in 2002 (19th edition), 2003 (20th edition), and 2004 (21st edition, which became the Phoenix BoulderBlast). In 2004, Rands won all three stages of the southeast's Triple Crown outdoor bouldering competition, and returned ten years later in 2014, to win all three stages of the Triple Crown series. Bouldering In January 2001, Rands completed the second female ascent, after Lynn Hill, of the classic boulder problem, Midnight Lightning graded