Nicolai Užnik FA’s Mount Doom (9A)

Nicolai Užnik, #5 in the World Championship in 2023, has done the first ascent of Mount Doom (9A) in Maltatal. The 24-year-old has this winter sent two 8C’s in “1.5 sessions” each and Forgotten Gem (8C) he did second go.

Can you tell us more about this amazing 9A FA?
I started trying it in 2021 after doing the stand Hide and Sick (8B+) in 2020. It took me quite a few sessions and a lot of work to figure out the moves over the year. In the fall of 2024 I had the beta perfected and also trained on the moves quite well. In january I did the intro into the stand for the first time and shortly after started giving send goes. I total it took me 8-9 more sessions with send attempts to actually do it. A lot of effort for the final reward.

Can you also describe the challenge?
In general it‘s very crimpy and intense. You have 8-9 moves 8B+/C intro into Hide and Sick, 8 moves or so without any rest which makes it super hard to link. It is super tension and you need to be on point the whole time cause any second you can slip or miss a hold slightly which will affect your chances of doing it.