Interview with Molly Mitchel: On Breaking Her Back and Climbing 5.14 Trad

For today's podcast, Tom Randall sits down with Molly Mitchel,  a pro climber with a very unique story. Having come out of a climbing gym, she is now a rising star in the trad community. Who seemingly quickly decided to get into hard and very bold trad, having done accents in Colorado mountains, including China Doll, a super techy 5.14 climb.

With more danger inevitably comes more risk and Molly sadly broke her back on her project "Crank It" 5.13+. Having fractured L2 and L3 vertebrae, getting back climbing can be a daunting and lengthy process. However, this really didn't stop her, and in 2021 Molly reached out to Lattice to get some coaching for overcoming her physical and mental trauma in order to finally send this route!

So sit down and enjoy this coach-to-athlete interview as Tom and Molly discuss the work they put together in order for her to revisit the scene of her accident and conquer her demons.

Topics covered:

• Molly's indoor climbing journey
• Her first Trad climbing experiences
• The mental game needed for bold climbing
• How her accident impacted her approach to climbing
• Setting goals to work on mental trauma, and commuting to them
• What Molly learned from the whole process
• Final stages of projecting, including mental state control and confidence

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.

The Lattice jingle is brought to you by Devin Dabney, music producer of the outdoor industry who also hosts the American Climbing Project.