Christian Leitner, 16, FA’s Der Rote Baron (9a+)

Christian Leitner, who four weeks ago sent his fourth 9a, has done the FA of Der rote Baron (9a+) in Zigeunerloch. (c) Mario Leitner

Last year the 16-year-old Austrian was 2 - 1 - 1 - 1 in the Lead European Cup/Championship he participated in.

Can you tell us more about the process behind the FA?
The route starts on Public enemy (8c) until reaching a good rest before the hard part begins. Every move requires a lot of body tension, with a lot of moves on underclings. Just before linking into Zigeunerbaron (8b), nearly at the end of the hard part, the absolute crux is waiting there. The true difficulty lies in doing the crux after all the demanding climbing that comes before it. At this point, you’re already deep into the route, and putting everything together requires every last bit of power. After the crux, the rest of the climb is pure enjoyment, with no more major difficulties standing in the way. The rock face is actually my homecrag, so I have tried the route on and off about three to four years before truly committing to it as a project. The dream of sending it has always been there.

In the end I have approximately projected it serious for about one year—Just about from the point on where I first found a potential solution for the crux. From that moment, I tried it regularly, even through the winter. To stay familiar with the moves I kept at it despite the bad conditions. Soon, I was able to climb all the way to the crux but I fell there every time. Not once I have had an attempt where I got super close to actually sending it. On the day of the send, we originally went to the crag because my brother Julian (14) wanted to send his second 8c, Public Enemy, which he eventually did. Afterwards I wanted to try my project for fun and I didn’t really have any expectations But somehow, everything went just perfect. I fought my way through the crux and could barely reach the next rest. Sometimes, everything just falls into place, and the climb flows like magic.

What are your 2025 comp plans, any senior World Cups?
For the comps I think I will mostly focus on international lead comps. This year unfortunately only youth cups, because IFSC changed the rules. Next year I am allowed to climb with adults.