Janun Hornegger ticks Legend (9a/+)

Janun Hornegger, who last year did his first two 9a’s, has completed Legend (9a+) in Wilhelmswand. Starting climbing at 18, with a focus on multipitch, the 29-year-old climbed his first 8b+ in 2022. The picture is from Baumwesen (9a).

Can you tell us more about the ascent?
I am really happy that it worked out so well. The route was put up and first ascended by the local legend Klem Loskot and had seen just one repetition since then. The route is located in Salzburg and was classified at 9a+.

I don't have experience in this grade but I think it is 9a or maximum 9a/+. So I say 9a/+ so that other strong climbers are more motivated to come and try this perfect line. In any case the route is a real Kingline, regardless of the grade.

It is divided in three pitches. The first is a short bouldery 8a. The second pitch is probably 8c/+, a bit high dependend. The crux is a cool jump in a 2-fingerpocket. For taller climbers it maybe feel like 8c. For me it felt bit harder. After that you have a good rest. You can recover your hands very good (no-hands rest), but you have always tension in your feet. After that there is a hard boulder on really small holds. Maybe 8A boulder, hard to say in this style.

After this boulder there is a medium rest followed by a maybe 7C boulder with a crux on a perfect 6mm crimp und tensiony footwork till the top.

If the rests would not be that good it would be 9a+ for sure. The route is about 40m long, but you don't need monster endurance. So for all bouldery climbers a perfect testpiece. The route is really in my style and took me about 10 days to send it.