For Babsi and Jacopo, Yosemite Valley continues to exert an inexorable pull. For the first few years, going all the way back to the fall of 2015, it was hard to escape the allure of El Cap. First it was El Nino, next Zodiac, then ascents of Magic Mushroom, the Pre-Muir and the Nose. After that nearly five-year odyssey of big wall free climbing, Babsi and Jacopo have become one of most successful big wall free climbing teams to ever boot up beneath the Captain. But in recent years, though the Valley has continued to lure them back every fall, they’ve made an effort to stay low, at least for a few weeks, to try their hand (and fingers) on some of the single pitch trad routes. First it was Meltdown (5.14c), a contender for the world’s hardest crack climb, which they both sent a season apart—Jacopo leading with the third ascent and Babsi following up with the fourth in 2023. So, what was next? This fall, it was Magic Line (5.14c)—the mythical Ron Kauk route, which he climbed back in ’96. This time around, Babsi fired the route first, with Jacopo following up a few days later. They now have both joined an elite list of climbers to tick both routes—a tally entirely comprised of Black Diamond Athletes (Conner Herson, Hazel Findlay, and Carlo Traversi).
We caught up with climbing’s ultimate power couple to hear more about their magical ascents, and to ask the inevitable … what’s next?
Q&A:
OK, when did this mythical route become an objective?
Jacopo: As a trad climber and Yosemite’s enthusiast it was high up on my dream route list! My first glimpse of the route was back in 2019, when I got the chance to witness Hazel’s ascent of this iconic line. She was looking for a belayer and we supported her during the send day.
Babsi: I belayed her [Hazel] when she sent the route, which was such an inspiration to me. It is just such a beautiful line that I was sure to come back trying it one day.
Jacopo: In 2022, I finally committed to focusing on a single pitch (Meltdown) instead of jumping on a big wall. It was hard at first, but at the same time it was nice to experience the Valley seasons from another perspective. Yosemite has so much to offer. I hoped to start trying Magic Line during that trip, but a winter storm changed my plans.
Last year I had to skip the season, but when Babsi came back home after having worked on the route with some friends (and having sent Meltdown!) and she was willing to try it again this fall … well it wasn’t hard for her to talk me into it.
Babsi: After I had climbed Meltdown, I got psyched to have a look on Magic Line [with Laura Neumeier]. We got hooked on it right away. We tried it multiple days that season, but the season came to a close, and we had to wait for this season.
Have to ask … have either of you seen the classic Masters of Stone footage of Ron Kauk making the first ascent? Did you have that Rasta soundtrack playing in your head during the ascent?
Jacopo: Yes, that movie is legendary! And so were the “Stone Masters!” They definitely inspired many generations and climbers, myself included. What they achieved back in the day is fascinating and mind blowing! I definitely had the iconic photo of Ron climbing it every time I walked up to the crag. What a style!
When I set off, I did have my favorite reggae song paying in my head. It’s my way to re-focus before starting an attempt.
Babsi: Before we tried Magic Line I heard a lot about the history of this climb and of course I saw the video of Ron Kauk. (Such a cool video, I love Rasta sound for training btw.) I also saw that video of Lonnie Kauk [Ron’s son]. Such incredible climbers! I think in general all those historical climbs in the valley and the stories of the Stone Masters inspire us and all the climbers in the Valley. I think there is no other place with so much climbing history.
In the footage, Kauk is climbing the route with no shirt, headband, and shorts. Babsi, what was your style for the send day?
Babsi: Ron Kauk the godfather of climbing was wearing a red headband, so I skipped the helmet and did that too. Red headband worked great on Magic line :-) That style they had back in the days!!! I just love it! My apparel for the send, definitely looked less cool: Solution merino baselayer; Coefficient LT pants; T-shirt, headband, with a Vision AirNet harness. And right after: Access Hoody; Belay pants, Coefficient LT quarter zip pullover.
Jacopo—send day equipment list?
Jacopo: AirNet harness, Team chalkbag, lots of small Camlot Z4’s well organized on the harness (with a few “quick-fire” cam releases).
What’s the rack for the route?
Jacopo: We mostly used small, normal and offset Z4’s (up to 0.3). Plus 2 small offset stoppers and one red ball-nut on the crux. The gear is small, but it feels solid! Placing it definitely adds some difficulty to the route, so it was key to organize it well on the harness, in order to be as fast as possible and save energy.
OK, logistically, what’s it like to try Magic Line—is it easily protected? Scary? Give us the run down.
Jacopo: Magic Line its located in a beautiful setting, hidden behind some trees at the base of the Vernal Falls. The “longish” but mellow approach is the perfect way to start a climbing day, and also keep the crowd away. I really liked the daily routing of walking and climbing up there. It’s also the only line on that wall, so you can focus your entire energy just on it.
Babsi: When we worked the route it helped a lot to place the gear also on TR, to get more confident on it. There are a lot of good possibilities to protect it, but the thing is that the climb is so insecure you can’t place anytime anywhere. It was very tricky to find out the best placements where you don’t need much extra power to place the gear. The crux is protected with a red ball nut which was always bomber. All of us had fallen on this piece and it never came out. At the very top you have another hard crux. Super insecure climbing on bad feet. I did a huge run out at the end, and I was sooo scared to fall there. I just hadn’t that extra power left to place another cam up there. Luckily, I never experienced that mega fall.
Was the route more mental than physical?
Babsi: It was very physical and mental at the same time. The thing is you can fall simply everywhere. It feels so insecure on the feet and takes a lot of body tension all the time. Sometimes it felt amazing and one second later I was hanging in the rope. A tricky part was also the shoe’s. For the upper crux it would have been great to have soft shoes and for the lower crux the best was to use very hard and stiff shoes. So I ended up using a soft left and a hard shoe on the right foot. Which made the crux a bit harder but worked well at the top. Also, after five go’s on the route I needed to break in new shoes. Never had this before on a climb.
There’s been talk about the broken foothold(s). What’s the deal?
Babsi: There is a story behind the footholds on Magic or better said, some Magic happened on the footholds of Magic Line. There were some rumors about cement footholds on that climb. I guess over the years they broke off. Hazel was writing in her report about Magic Line that she broke off the last cement foothold of the climb. Which is great I think—now it is completely natural!
But still some footholds kept on breaking. A couple of footholds broke on the top crux, which didn’t change much on the difficulty.
But as the key foothold broke in the crux, in November ’23, it got definitely a bit harder in the lower crux for me. The foothold got sized down to half of it what was there before. That made me change my beta. It was not possible the way I tried it before. But luckily, I found a new solution.
OK, send day vibes, what made the difference?
Babsi: I didn’t expect anything on this day. I still had the feeling I would need more tries to send it. I hadn’t really got past the first crux before. On my first lead try of the day I got over the crux for the first time ever. So, I wanted to fight as much I could.
Jacopo, considering Babsi sent first, was the pressure on?
Jacopo: I kind of knew that this was going to happen. I have to admit that I felt a lot of unfounded pressure, both from myself and the outside, and I coped badly with it, not being my better self. I was of course super happy for Babsi and it was amazing to witness her send! I definitely didn’t feel any pressure from her side, and she was very supportive. People were joking about it all the time though, which added a bit of extra pressure. I didn’t want to slow our trip down and the insecure nature of the route added some extra stress. The last days before the send had been a bit of a rollercoaster. It took some effort to get rid of it, but once more, the key to success was to simply enjoy the process every single try. You don’t get to climb on such a gem every day and share it with good people! Now I’m almost sad that it’s over, but happy she didn’t have to wait for long :-)
How does it stack up to Meltdown?
Babsi: It is really hard to compare! I think Meltdown is more athletic and powerful. Magic Line is mentally harder and the insecure climbing stays on all the way to the top.
Jacopo: Meltdown suits me better and that’s probably why it felt easier. It’s physically harder, but the climbing is more secure. Magic Line is the completely opposite.
Alright, give us a little tease about what’s next.
Jacopo: After having focused for a few weeks just on laybacking thin cracks, we are trying to get better at climbing some wider stuff. It does feel even harder though …
Babsi: Monster offwidth. I am already scared.
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