Barbara Zangerl repeats Magic Line (8c+) in Yosemite

On the 29th of October, Austrian climber Barbara Zangerl repeated Magic Line (5.14c /8c+) in Yosemite Valley, USA. This iconic trad route, renowned for its technical and extremely thin, sharp crack, is one of the most revered lines in the world of climbing. First established by Ron Kauk, Magic Line has challenged many of the most experienced climbers in the world and had only seen 4 other repeats since Kauk’s first ascent in 1996. The first female ascent was carried out by Hazel Findlay in 2019. Demanding a rare blend of physical power, precision, and mental fortitude, Zangerl’s achievement is one of the proudest of her career.

Speaking after her ascent, Zangerl shared her thoughts on the climb: "This one means a lot to me. What a stunning line! I’ve never climbed something this insecure before. Firstly, it took me a while to find out the perfect beta for all the hard sequences and my initial goal was simply to link everything together on toprope, which is a still a world away from getting to the next level where you place the gear on lead. The gear makes everything a lot more uncomfortable and the placements are all very small and fiddly. On this route, it felt like I could potentially fall at any given moment.

Hard, stiff shoes felt great on the lower crux but then totally useless for the upper one. After 3 days on the climb my shoes were too soft and the crux then felt impossible. From my La Sportiva Katana laces back and forth to Skwamas and the other way around, it took a while to find the best formula.

Last autumn, Magic Line already felt possible, after Lara Neumeier and I spent some days on it. I had climbed the whole thing on top-rope and made a couple of lead tries but just couldn’t get past the crux on lead. Then a key moment came during that process when a foothold on the top crux broke, followed by a really crucial foothold in the lower crux. After this, I really wasn’t sure if it was still possible for me, or if I had enough power to move through that lower section in a different way. There was still something left to stand on but it was probably only half of what had already been a very tiny foothold, previously.

With just 2 days left of that trip, I wasn’t able to find the right solution to send the route. Despite this set-back, motivation was still high and I was excited to return again this year. Jacopo was psyched to try Magic line as well, we had a great reason to come back.

This year, I had no expectations at all because I was really not sure how it would feel, with that broken foothold. I had to change my beta to get over the crux sequence but, after some days on top-rope again, I started to make lead attempts. The crux shut me down multiple times on that first lead day.

After a rest day, I came back, warmed up and somehow managed to stick the crux move. The middle part of the line which is actually the easiest, felt so hard and pumpy that I was surprised after every move that I was still on the wall.

I reached the final no-hand rest for the very first time on lead. I was so nervous because I know everyone who climbed Magic line fell up there at least once and, at the same time, the huge runout from the last cam placement to the anchors added an additonal layer of tension to the final section. It was really stressful. I didn’t want to fail up there.

I told myself it can’t get any more exciting than this, so I should enjoy that moment and try not to freak out. I knew I was lucky to have made it this far and had to simply take it move-by-move and try not to think about anything else.

A few moments later I had a big jug in my hands. All I had to do now was to follow those big holds to the final anchor. Pulling through those last easy moves I could finally relax and appreciate what I’d just done and why I love climbing so much! You never now what’s possible until you try… very hard."

With this ascent, Zangerl cements her position as one of the leading figures in the sport and completes the first female "Yosemite Double", following her ascent of Yosemite’s other cutting-edge trad-line Meltdown, in autumn 2023. Zangerl becomes one of only 3 people to climb both of Yosemite’s hardest single-pitch trad climbs, joining Carlo Traversi and Connor Herson in a very exclusive new club. Other cutting-edge Yosemite ascents carried out by Zangerl include the El Capitan big walls The Nose (2019), Pre-Muir Wall (2019), Magic Mushroom (2017), Zodiac (2016), El Niño (2015).