Kai Lightner Sends Three 5.14d Routes in a Week

American climber Kai Lightner recently sent Open Your Mind Direct 5.14d/15a in Santa Linya, Spain. What makes the send even more impressive is that earlier in the week Lightner redpointed both Ciudad de Dios 5.14d/15a and Direct Into Your Fabelita 5.14d. All three routes share the same bouldery start, which goes at around 5.14c. Open Your Mind Direct 5.14d/15a links this start into an upper 5.14c.

Located in the famous Cova Gran of Santa Linya, Open Your Mind Direct has been sent by many of the best sport climbers in the world. Jakob Schubert, Magnus Midtbø, Daniel Woods, Jonathan Siegrist, and Jorge Diaz-Rullo are just a few of the big names that have redpointed the route. Climbers typically grade the problem 5.14d/15a, soft 5.15a, or hard 5.14d.

“I definitely saved the hardest for last,” said Lightner on Instagram. “Open Your Mind Direct shares the same beginning bouldery section as Directa Fabelita & Ciudad de Dios, but adds another bouldery [5.14c] on top of it with a desperate last hard move to a jug. Apparently a few holds have broken over time in the upper crux (some as recently as 2022), which has made those moves much harder. I also had a hard time fitting my fingers into the cracks and pockets towards the top of the route, which added an additional issue I had to push through. But I committed to fighting through each crux move and managed to connect it all on my second attempt trying this link up!”

Lightner has been on a tare the past few months. In November, he repeated Life of Villains 5.14d in the Hurricave in Utah. In February, the 24-year-old made the first ascent of Death of Villains 5.15a, also in the Hurricave. He sent his first-ever 5.14d in 2015 with Era Vella in Margalef, Spain.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kai Lightner (@kailightner)

Magnus Midtbø climbs Open Your Mind Direct 5.14d/15a