The „all-rounder“ Carlo Traversi can climb his second extremely difficult trad route with „Magic Line“ (5.14c R/8c+), after „Meltdown“ (5.14c R/8c+). It was only the third repetition of the route after Hazel Findlay and Lonnie Kauk. Of course, Carlo put all belay gears on lead.

„All gear placed on lead.

Learned a lot from this one. Finding peace in a near constant state of tension. Moving softly while maintaining that tension. Trusting the granite, testing its limits of friction. Accepting a new feeling of flow. Imagining my feet are like the roots of a tree, grounded in each position. Then ripping them up and pressing them down again. Over and over. Just keep moving. No thinking, just moving. Seeing it through. Demanding perfection.

Much thanks to everyone who I’ve shared the day with at this line over the years. We are lucky to have these places to test ourselves.

Photos by @christian_adam_ . Thanks to @blackdiamond for the support and @marymeck for the belays. Video coming from @kippwagon.“

The trad route „Magic Line“ was first climbed with pre-placed gears by rock legend Ron Kauk in 1996. His son Lonnie also climbed the route in 2016 with „pre-placed“ gears. Lonnie sends the route in 2018. He placed all the gears in lead. The route is considered one of the hardest trad routes in the world, as no route has ever been graded 9a. Jacopo Larchers „Tribe“ (9a?) in Cadarese was repeated by James Pearson and graded with 9a.

Carlo Traversi developed into one of the best all-rounders in the world. Besides his first ascent of „Empath“ (9a+), he was able to climb „Equanimity“ (8C/V15), an interesting boulder at Kirkwood Lake, California, south of Lake Tahoe.

Carlo was able to climb his first 8C+ boulder with „Creature from the Black Lagoon“ (8C+/V16) in the Rocky Mountains National Park (RMNP) last July.

 

Photos: (c) Christian Adam