Kaddi Lehmann Climbing “Kryptos” (V15)
For Kaddi Lehmann, climbing a V15 boulder problem all started with fixing the gears on her old mountain bike.
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The accumulated miles Kaddi Lehmann pedaled uphill to Kryptos—an aesthetic limestone V15 seam in the Swiss Jura—pale in comparison to the internal journey she endured to reach the top of that boulder. On that intrepid internal voyage, Lehmann discovered that success didn’t hinge on physical power, but on motivation, belief, and happiness. This is her story.
Lehmann was the second woman to climb V15. The American climber Ashima Shiraishi became the first woman to boulder 8C (V15), with the second ascent of Horizon, a longtime Dai Koyamada testpiece in Mount Hiei, Japan. Shiraishi later went on to send Sleepy Rave (8C/V15) in the Grampians, of Australia.