Kai Lightner redpoints three 9a’s

Kai Lightner reports on Instagram that over the last week in Santa Linya he has done Open Your Mind Direct (9a), Ciudad de dios (9a) and Direct into your Fabelita (9a). Just two months ago, he made the FA of a 9a+. (c) Iandzilenski.com

Can you tell us more about these sends in Santa Linya?
Initially when I came to Santa Linya, I had my eyes set on another route. However, it has been raining a lot in the cave, leaving limited options for routes that are consistently dry. One of those routes happened to be Ciudad de Dios, a route I always wanted to try but was nervous to commit to because of how opposite it was from my usual style. The first 7 clips is an extremely bouldery, short, and powerful section that requires a lot of tension and power endurance. Once you make it from there, you have three options: the farthest left line goes as Ciudad de Dios (9a/+), which adds on a bouldery 8c+ called Fabela. The second line is a route called Direct into Your Fabelita (9a), which connects into an 8c called Fabelita. The third option is going straight up into another bouldery 8c+ called Open Your Mind, which when connected into the direct start is Open Your Mind Direct (9a/+).

The bottom boulder problem challenged me the most; once I got it dialed, I was able to shift my focus to learning and pushing through the top sections of each route.

What is your next plan?
I only have a few days left in my trip, which is not a lot of time to pick new projects. So my goal is to sample some new routes that will hopefully be future projects when I return.