Hi,
An issue with the solutions in general I feel is that they are much longer than needs be, and could be shortened down. I have copied the code for my own solution to Day 8, so please do check it out.
Thanks.
Code:

from sys import argv
visible = 0
max_dist = 0
file = open(argv[1] if len(argv)>1 else "treeheights.txt").read().strip()
lines = [l for l in file.split("\n")]
Dir = [(0, 1), (0, -1), (1, 0), (-1, 0)]
for Y in range(len(lines)):
for X in range(len(lines[0])):
vis = False
score = 1
for (x, y) in Dir:
dx = X
dy = Y
dist = 1
br = True
while True:
dx += x
dy += y
if not (0 <= dx < len(lines[Y]) and 0 <= dy < len(lines)):
dist -= 1
break
if int(lines[Y][X]) <= int(lines[dy][dx]):
br = False
break
dist += 1
score *= dist
if br:
vis = True
if vis:
visible += 1
max_dist = max(max_dist, score)
print("P1:",visible)
print("P2:",max_dist)