Kai Lightner FA’s Death of Villains (9a+)

Kai Lightner has kept up his recent form and fitness by doing the FA of Death of Villains (9a+) at Hurricave. Kai first made headlines when he sent Southern Smoke (8c+) at age 13, in 2012. The next year, he won the Youth World Championship and completed Era Vella (9a). Last November he made his return to 9a by climbing, Life Of Villains (9a).

On Instagram he comments on his 9a+ FA. "I can’t end this post without giving a HUGE shout out to @joekinder. You have really become a mentor for me in so many ways, and have gone out of your way to help me in my outdoor climbing journey. At the end of the day, the climbing community would not exist without people like you developing the crags we recreate in." (c) Gareth Leah

Can you tell us more about this FA?
Training for Death of Villains was honestly a shot in the dark. I had never projected a climb at that level, and didn’t know how much was enough. For this particular climb, power endurance was the name of the game, and I had to have a lot of it. So lots of laps, lots of 4x4’s and lots of cardio! Luckily when I showed up to the climb, I knew I had enough fitness to get the job done in the 2.5 weeks I had given myself. I had also already done half the climb, as the beginning section is shared with Life of Villains (which I sent last fall). After 9 sessions and fighting the rain and damp conditions, I was finally able to get it done on the last possible try of the last day of my trip! Super psyched to nail this one down .

How long did you prepare for the climb?
I’d say [only] the month before (January). After a busy month of December in Jamaica and going home for the holidays, I reserved the month of January strictly for training and preparing.

What is coming up next for you?
Spain in two weeks! I’ll be climbing around Spain for a month testing routes and seeing what goes. Only time will tell!