Lilli Kiesgen flashes 8A and sends 8B’s

Lilli Kiesgen has had some great days in Gottardo, flashing Scary Christmas (8A) and redpointing The Witch (8B) (personal 8A+ grade) as well as Kingda Ka (8B). ”Really liked it! The movements around the Undercling depends on ones height. The taller you are the easyer it gets. For 1,65m it feels like 8B. Oh and really hard for the shoes - needed two pairs.”

Can you tell us more about the trip and explain the shoe issuse?
I flashed the 8A first day of the trip. I didn’t really plan to do a flash try, but when I saw the boulder I thought it might suit my style really well - a Mantle followed by some small crimps and small foothold. In the climb I had no expectations and improvised at the top Sequence so I was surprised when I stood on top of the boulder😅.

I also had my first session on Kingda Ka later that day. It felt possible, but I couldn’t figure out one of the last moves at the top. When you are small it’s hard to bring the body high enough to use the Undercling. This particular move can change the difficulty of the Boulder a lot depending on your hight. Another problem for me was, that one foothold was so sharp, that it made a hole in the sole of my shoe. So I had to change the shoes a lot. I didn’t wanted to focus on just one boulder, so I also tried the Witch. Lucia and I tried it together and figured out a good beta for our hight.

On the last day I wanted to try both boulders, in the morning I went to the Witch and could climb it in the first go of the day- but unfortunately I dabbed the pad… Afterwards I got stressed and it took me quite some tries to get it done. In the afternoon we went to Kingda Ka. It felt hard that day, so I started to change my shoes again. Two pairs of Solutions got destroyed on the way which made it not only a physical but also a financial challenge for me 😂 I changed between different shoes forth and back and eventually it somehow worked out and I sent my first 8B.