The Magic Mushroom

Part 1: History and Prep

Magic Mushroom isn’t a route you hear of often in Yosemite, and it receives little attention. The route was established in 1972 by Hugh Burton and Steve Sutton. The following extract from Mountain magazine (issue 23, Sep 1972) is the only thing I’ve found about the aid line:

“ Two young Vancouver climbers, Hugh Burton and Steve Sutton, completed The Magic Mushroom (Grade 6, 5.9, A4), which they had started in the previous season. The route follows a completely independent line of cracks between Muir Wall and Son of Heart. The climb, which took eight days, utilised fifty bolts. It is described as “clean and aesthetic.” "

Topo

Clean and aesthetic perfectly describe the route, which follows an immaculate series of flares, cracks, and corners. The awkward aid climbing seems to deter the masses, and the aid route sees a handful of ascents a year. In May 2008, Tommy Caldwell and Justin Sjong made the first free ascent at 5.14a, making it the most challenging route on the wall at the time (now second to The Dawn Wall). The free route is 31 pitches, with more than 10 pitches between 5.13a/7c+ and 5.14a/8b+. The route climbs Moby Dick to the Muir wall corners, before breaking off into the first 5.13b/8a slab, followed by a 5.13c/8a+ slab. One more 5.13b/8a and some easier climbing gets you to the Grey Ledges at P13. Leaving Grey Ledges, you share the crux 5.13b/8a of El Corazon before the meat of the route begins up a corner system, at which point the line becomes independent.

Pitch 1

The upper corner system is pretty unique in that you climb the ~300m feature in its entirety; there’s little in the way of downpulling, instead weird jamming, laybacking, and stemming up the steep and powerful flares. After pitch 18, there are only 4 pitches lower than 5.13b/8a+, making it a stacked outing! In June of the same year, Tommy returned and repeated Magic Mushroom in a day (20:02). The week before, on another attempt, he reached the final 5.14a at P27 and fell three times at the last boulder crux… In my opinion, Tommy’s Magic Mushroom day ascent is still one of the most impressive big wall ascents around! Since Tommy and Justin’s ascent, the route has only been repeated by Babsi Zangerl and Jacopo Larcher, who climbed it over 11 days in December 2017.

So far, Sam and I have had 6 days on the route. On our first day, we climbed the first 10 pitches to Mammoth Ledge, then descended the fixed heart lines. This was my first time climbing on El Cap; the initial slabs are as slippery as everyone says, and it took me a while to get into things and feel comfortable. By the time we reached the 13c pitch, the wall was already in the sun. I figured out a sequence for the crux traverse, but it was a bit too hot for the nail crimping flakes and feet. After a few rest days, we hiked up the Eastern Ledges with 300m of rope for some top-down clowning. We spent two trips, one of two days and another of three, sussing out the upper pitches.

The Seven Seas 5.14a

Working a route of this size top down didn’t feel very cool, and I felt a bit sheepish. There are obviously purer ways of going about the ascent, but this is by far the most continuously difficult bigwall I’ve ever tried, and it’s been fun committing to a project and breaking it down to something that feels more manageable. I often shy away from projecting on trips and resort to lots of mileage, I guess partly because I love climbing and want to do as much of different styles as possible, and partly because I fear failure: committing myself to one thing and walking away with nothing. Projecting on a big wall is quite a nice way to break that cycle for me, as I still get so much variety, with 31 pitches of varied climbing over 900m, but it’s a big bite to chew and success is far from certain!

Top-down clowning

The experience of rappelling in from the top of El Cap is also pretty exceptional. I’m glad we had a ground-up day first, but being up on the headwall—essentially cragging—is really cool. Most of the upper pitches would be classic single pitches on the ground. We would usually spend the morning working out two or three pitches before the sun came around, then jumar back out and hang out on top for the rest of the day. Spending time on the summit has brought some of my favourite moments from the trip; the landscape up there is truly magical. Although the valley floor can seem a bit like a show at times, up top, you're far removed and set in some of the best scenery I’ve seen. I loved the 30-minute hike to the spring to collect water, where we would walk past all the gnarled trees, weathered by wind and lightning strikes, then through a mossy forest dappled in pink evening light.

Life on top

I managed most of the pitches clean; the upper 5.14a I worked in two sections, stopping where we redirected the rope. I think this pitch will be really hard coming from the bottom, with the crux boulder right at the end. I managed the other 5.14a and two 5.13d’s, and they feel a lot more reliable. The biggest worry is the 13c at pitch 18, which is a monster flare system split by a boulder problem in the middle. The boulder involves bridging up a corner on tiny feet, before a big reach out to a ramp. I spent several hours on that 3-meter section, and it was starting to look like the whole route might be a goer except for one move… On the last working day on the route, I found a new sequence stemming higher up the groove before heading left, which adds a lot more difficult moves, but felt more reliable. I haven't linked that pitch in one, but hopefully some from-the-bottom psyche will get us through it!

Sam on Pitch 18

A few days ago, we pre-hauled our bags to the Grey Ledges at P14, which was a lot of work, but it feels good to be committed to the climb; it’s only up from here! We have enough food and water for 12 days on the wall. On the 1st of November, we’ll start our push and aim to climb to our bags at Grey Ledges on day 1 before slowing down as the pitches get tougher. It’s exciting to finally be going for a lead attempt. It feels a long way off from a certain send, but I think we stand a good chance, and the time on the wall will be a hell of an experience regardless of the outcome! Fingers crossed!